
Book_JLl-^2. 



OPINIONS OF LOYALISTS 



CO.NCERxVING 






'i^S OF THE 



EXPEESSED IN THE ^VVvnTtx^c, . ., 

OP THE KAPOOEATION OP °'^*'^'^'°^ 



IN MASS UEE^G ON UMON SQUARE, NEW Y. 



ORK, 



ON THE nth OF APRIL, 1863, 



THE ANNIVERSABr OF IHE AmCK OH FOBT SUMTEB, 



PUBLISHED BY OEDEE OP THE COUKCIL 



AKB EXEOOTXTB COmiTrEE OP THE LCA. «^TIONA. X^^B. 



C. S. WESTCOTT & CO., PRINTERS, 
No. 79 John Street. 

1863. 



Hsclianso 
N. y. Pub. Lb. 

JUL 15^ '9oy 



.LYo% 



.-3 



THE GEEAT SUMTER MEETING. 



The matter contained in this volume — statements of the proceedings at the 
Mass Meeting of the Loyal National League, in Union Square, New York, on 
the " Anniversary of Sumter " — needs no preface beyond the accounts given by 
sundry newspapers, from which brief quotations are herewith given. 

The meeting originated in the following 



CALL OF THE LOYAL NATIONAL LEAGUE. 

The members of the Loyal National League, and all persons who unite with 
them in a determination to support the Government it its efforts to suppress 
the rebellion against its authority, are invited to assemble in Mass Meeting on 
Union Square, Saturday afternoon, 11th April, at four o'clock, the anniversary 
of the attack upon Fort Sumter, to renew to the Government their solemn 
pledge and fixed resolve to maintain unimpaired the national unity, both in 
principle and territorial boundary. 

COUNCIL OF TWENTY-FIVE. 



GEORGE OPDYKE, 
CHARLES KING, 
JOHN A. STEVENS, 
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, 
JOHN C. GREEN, 
A. T. STEWART, 
FRANCIS LIEBER, 
WILLIAM E. DODGE, 
WILLIAM CURTIS NOTES, 
MORRIS KETCHUM, 
SETH B, HUNT, 

JAMES 



E. CAYLUS, 
MOSES TAYLOR, 
CHARLES BUTLER, 
FRANCIS B. CUTTING, 
ROBERT BAYARD, 
JOHN J. CISCO, 
C. V. S. ROOSEVELT, 
FRANCIS G. SHAW, 
CHARLES A. HECKSCHER, 
W. H. WEBB, 
WILLIAM F. CARY, 
McKAYE. 



EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF TWENTY-FIVE. 



GEORGE GRISWOLD, 
JOHN COCHRANE, 
FRANKLIN H. DELANO, 
J. BUTLER WRIGHT, 
GEORGE CABOT WARD, 
JOHN JAY, 
ISAAC H. BAILEY, 
WILLIAM A. HALL, 
WILLIAM T. BLODGETT, 
PARKE GODWIN, 
ADRIAN ISELIN, 
SIDNEY HOWARD GAY, 



ROBERT B. MINTURN, Jk,, 
JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, 
CHARLES ASTOR BRISTED, 
ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY, 
THOMAS N. DALE, 
JOHN A. STEVENS, Jr., 
WILLIAM E. DODGE, Jr., 
WILLIAM ORTON, 
WOLCOTT GIBBS, 
C. E. DETMOLD, 
GEORGE P. PUTNAM. 

JAMES A. ROOSEVELT, Secretary. 



From Ike New York Evening Post, April II. 
THE GEEAI HEEIISG TO-DAY. 

The great Sumter Meetlog at Union .Square to-dav which is i„ „,. 
we go to press, is au immense and most enthusiast^ Tl!^ T ^^'"^ "" 
Ahout twenty celegations from Loyal Leagues ^1. '31 , ""r"'"^'""' 
arrived here to-day, to take part in'the proceed „;"!«; deT ■"" 

ri::- ;:rra rr^er "■ -' ----- ~ 

The stands are tastefully decorated with Aiuericin f\^<r« o„^ i. 
i.g appropriate inscriptio/s-a.o.g the. tteTn^ing^^ "' '^"""^' '^^^- 
^^ Loyal National League. [Pledged to maintain the national unity 1" 

[Figt^^;:;rei^^sj;::^^t^ls^r:^^^^ 

U^ic^^SSCte^Jtr;?^^^-'^^ "^"^^^^ '^ ^^- —The flag of our 

is ^":: ::^^"^ ^^ ''-'-' '-'' ^'^ -«-^^ -^-^^ -^ ^he pedestal 

anddfJ'r'^'^lr '^"^^'^ every flagstaff, from windows and from roofe 
and the city wears the appearance of a gala day ' 

A great number of letters have been received from distinguished men in r. 
sponse to mvitations to be present at the meetin.. * °* i '"' '"^ ''■ 



From the New York Daily Times, April 12. 

LOYAL MASS MEETING. 

THIRTY THOUSAND UNION MEN IN COUNCIL. 

Loi^alty to tlu Government and Confidence in the Administration.~An A>r.re. 
Mt-c UarPoluy Urged-Seeess^onists Scourged and Copperhead, Confounded. 

GREAT ENTHUSIASM. 

A gruna ma.s nu-eting of the citizenB of Now York, regardless of partv aflil- 
mt, . , wa« hold yesterday afternoon nt Union S.p.aro The obi ct of the 
moe .ng wu« to ro.teruto in the earn of Southern trailor., and before .e o os of 
N.. thern .yn.patlu.ers the loyalty of Now York to the Union, its cl^dlco 
n he -l-...Mrat.on it« doniro for an aggressive war policy, is ex te no aT 
hurronoo o, all (-..nledorutcB, and absolute detestation ofull J/.pperbead Sk 



stands were erected, from which sweet music was given and eloquent addresses 
delivered. Great enthusiasm pervaded the vast assemblage, which at one time 
mast have numbered thirty thqpsand persons, among whom were many ladies. 
The ' hotels and private residences in and about the square were gayly deco- 
rated with flags ; banners hung from many windows ; all things wore the look 
of a holiday. Cannon were momentarily discharged, brass bands continually 
clamored forth airs of patriotism, and shouts of applause drowned them all. 
For the list of officers; the letters from distinguished men, the resolutions and 
the addresses, we have no space, and necessarily confine ourselves to an ab- 
stract of the proceedings, which, though in some instances comparatively brief, 
will serve as a sufficient exponent of the loyal tone which pervaded the ad- 
dresses, and the loyal spirit which was evinced by the enthusiastic thousands 
who responded to the call. [Here follow six columns of particulars.] 



From the New York Herald, April 12. 

SUMTER ANNIVERSARY. 

Great National Demonstration on Union Square. — The Republic One and Indi- 
visible. — Inauguration of the Loyal National League. 

The second anniversary of the rebel attack on Fort Sumter was made the 
occasion of another imposing Union demonstration in this city yesterday, under 
the auspices of the Loyal National League. As on the two former occasions 
when that first act in the rebellion summoned the cUizens of New York to a 
manifestation of their loyalty, so on this occasion, Union Square was the place 
of meeting. At six points about the square platforms were erected, decorated 
with flags and banners, and furnished with bands of music, and all around was 
an immense assemblage of the people, exhibiting as much enthusiastic loyalty 
and devotion to the flag, and as much determination to put down the rebellion, 
as when they met at the same place two years ago. And above all towered, 
majestic and serene, the bronze equestrian figure of Washington, the pedestal 
garlanded with evergreens and the head decked with the national colors. 

The public edifices generally, and most of the large buildings on Broad- 
way, had the American flag flying throughout the day. Among the notable 
exceptions to this rule were the two headquarters of the democracy — Tam- 
many Hall and Mozart Hall. The weather was superb, and that portion of 
the city presented a most animated spectacle. [Here follows four columns of 
particulars.] 

The shades of evening were falling, and the gas-lamps had begun to brighten 
up before the last of the orators at some of the stands had finished their speeches. 
# * * The demonstration, on the whole, was a most successful one. 



From the New York Evening Post of April 13 — {second article). 

THE MEETING OF SATURDAY. 

The first open-air demonstration of the Loyal National League, on the anni- 
versary of the original bombardment of Fort Sumter, was a great success. 
The spaces about Union Square were crowded all the latter part of the after- 
noon with patriotic citizens. It is needless to say that the proceedings were 
orderly and animated. In the midst of the vast throng there was but one 
feeling and one voice — that of irrepressible determination to conquer the re- 
bellion. Resolutions, letters, addresses, and speeches, were all received with 
earnest enthusiasm. 

Generals Fremont, Sigel, and Hamilton, perhaps attracted the most attention, 
but all the speakers were listened to with the deepest interest. Postmaster- 
General Blair, as a representative of the government, made an eloquent and 
forcible appeal to his audience ; Henry Wilson justified the high position he 
holds in the United States Senate ; Governor Morton spoke warmly for the 
patriotism of the Northwest; while D. S. Dickinson, Judge KcUey, of Philadel- 
phia, Schuyler Colfax, G. W. Julian, Colonel Nugent, George W. Curtis, and 
others, made the welkin ring with cheers. 

This meeting differed from other monster meetings which have been held in 
this city in one respect, and that is, the number of our prominent and wealthy 
citizens who took an active part in its proceedings. Our merchants usually 
content themselves, on such occasions, with allowing their names to be used 
oflScially and contributing money ; but this time they took hold in person with 
a will. On each of the six different stands, around which the multitude were 
gathered, we saw many who have seldom before assumed such positions. They 
have labored through(mt with great zeal, and will so continue to labor, we 



have no doubt, to the end 



enc 



From the New York Tribune, April 13. 

THE SUMTER MEETING. 

New York has spoken again for the war, with a voice whoso tones shall bo 
hoard as words of cheer to every national army, and words of doom in every 
rebel camp. The meeting of the Loyal National League on Saturday was far 
more tlian ordinarily a spontaneous expression of popular enthusiasm, and its 
Buccess is the more significant because many of the usual means by which 
numbers are attracted to a public assembly wore omitted. There were delega- 
tions from abroad of considerable strength, but the mass of the mooting was 
of course from New York — a city which is supposed to contain at least as 
largo a jiroportion of rebel sympatliizerH as any section of the country. Let 
this magnificent gathering witness liow large a jiart of its l)cst citizens aro de- 
votedly loyal. Not less (ban tiiirty thousand of thorn were present to de- 
clare it. 

We give a groat deal of space this morning [two entire pages, twelve columns, 
of small type] to a report of the speochos and resolutions, but they are such as 



deserve public attention. The number of really eminent speakers was unusually 
great, and their addresses were in the main thoughtful discussions of principles 
and great measures of policy, and plain declarations of the duties of the hour. 
The administration was represented by Postmaster-General Blair; Gov. Morton 
of Indiana spoke eloquently for the West ; Senator Wilson of Massachusetts 
for New England; and General Fremont, General Hamilton, and General Sigel, 
for the great army which the whole nation contributes to defend the Republic. 
The address of General Fremont will excite general admiration for its 
soldierly directness of speech, good sense, and complete devotion to the cause 
which the personal jealousies of others still prevent him from serving in the 
field. 

The speeches reflect indeed the character of the meeting, which through all 
its proceedings preserved the earnestness of the convictions which brought it 
together. Its genuine enthusiasm had a deeper source than party politics or 
personal motives; it sprung from an unconquerable patriotism, which, hav- 
ing been tried by long endurance of war, having counted the cost of the tre- 
mendous struggle which two years ago it undertook, having taken to heart the 
lessons of austere experience, having been instructed by defeat and sobered by 
great sacrifices — nevertheless, with undiminished zeal, and with a courage 
which nothing has been able to dishearten, renews to the government and the 
nation the pledge of its unswerving devotion and support. 



OFFICERS. 



STAND No. 1. 

Under charge of Committee of Arrangements, 

GEORGE GRISWOLD, JOHN COCHRANE, 

J. BUTLER WRIGHT, ADRIAN ISELIN. 

President. 

Hon. GEORGE OPDYKE, 

Mayor of the City. 



Vice-Presidents. 



William B, Aster, 
John C. Green, 
Andrew Carrigan, 
William Cullen Bryant, 
John Mullan, 
Thomas Ewbank, 
Robert Bayard, 
Henry J. Raymond, 
James A. Hamilton, 
Edward Colgate, 
Richard M. Hoe, 
Henry O'Rielly, 
George T. Adee, 
-Ferdinand Lawrence, 
F.'Schroeder, 
Edwin J. Brown, 
Robert Thomas, 
William B. Rockwell, 
William A. Booth, 
Richard W. Weston, 
Elisha Seeley, 
John D. Wolfe, 
George Denison, 
Frederick Prime, 
John Hayward, 
R. S. Mount, jr., 
Rufus F. Andrews, 



William L. Wood, 
W. Scheppe, 
John E. Williams, 
Louis Burger, 
J. G. Pearson, 
Elias Howe, jr., 
John M. Reid, 
Leonard D. White, 
Seth B. Hunt, 
Robert Murray, 
Joseph Lawrence, 
W. W. De Forest, 
WilUam F. Barnes, 
Thomas Stevens, 
Howard Potter, 
Joseph Foulke, 
James Kelly, 
Herman Rastei', 
Frank E. Howe, 
George T. Elliott, 
I'rancis B. Nichol, 
D. T. Valentine, 
Maun sell B. Field, 
William G. Lambert, 
B. W. Osborne, 
David R. Jaques, 
James W. Welsh, 



10 



Edmund Stephenson, 
T'ev. Rudolpli Dillon, 
Pliili]) ILimilton, 
Samuel D. Babcock, 
Henry Bancker, 
John H. Waydell, 
Robert Cutting, 
John L. Brown, 
Oliver Holden, 
Charles Samson, 
Charles 11. Macy. 
William A. Darling, 
John Ward, 
G. W. Bliss, 
John Cotton Smith, 
Richard Hecksher, 
Isaac Feri'is, 
D. Lichtenstein 
Henry KIo))penburg, 
J. E. Braunsdorf, 
John W. Quincey, 



Thomas Lawrence, 
Francis Vinton, 
D. N. Barney, 
O. D. F. Grant, 
Gulian C. Verplanck, 
Joseph Samson, 
Francis Hall, 
David W. Christern, 
Stewart L. Woodford, 
Alexander H. Keech, 
Cornelius Vanderbilt, 
Marshall O. Roberts, 
W. H. Bestliiig, • 
William Hegenian, 
James B. Young, 
M. Levin, 
George T. Strong, 
James Speyers, 
Otto Lockersdorf, 
H. Von Glahu. 



Secretaries, 



James W. Underhill, 
Frank Otis, 
William H. Grenelle, 
Cliarles G. Clarke, 
William Feet, 
K. W. Howell, 
C'harles Nettleton, 
R. H. Vaudenheuvel, 
George McMillan, 
D. S. Riddle, 
Louis J. Ik'lloiii, jr., 
Charles H. Tyler, 
Frederick G. Swan, 



David W. Bishop, 
]). J. ]Marten, 
R. Fulton Crary, 
Francis A. Stout, 
Alexander l>ecker, 
Andrew Warner, 
George Griswold Haven, 
James Couper Lord, 
Samuel W. Tubbs, 
George Wilson, 
.l()sc'])h Howard, jr., 
William F. Smith, 
Willitun E. Everett. 



PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 



STAND No. 1. 

SOUTHEAST CORNER, FACING THE STATUE OF WASHINGTON. 

Salutes of Artillery by the Worhnen employed by Henry Brewster (J- Co. 

1. Grand March, from " Le Prophete," of Meyerbeer, by Grafula's Grand 
Band. 

2. Hon. George Opdyke, Mayor of the City, will call the meeting to order. 

3. Prayer, by Kev. William Adams, D. D. 

4. J. Butler Wright, of the Executive Committee, will read the call for the 

meeting, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. George Griswold will read the address adopted by the Council and Execu- 

tive Committees on Lectures and Addresses. 

6. John Cochrane will read the resolutions.. 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Hon. Montgomery Blair will address the meeting. 

9. William Ross Wallace will read an "Ode" on the defence of Fort Sum- 

ter by General Anderson. 

10. Music — singing : " The Army Hymn." By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

11. Judge William D. Kelley, delegate of the Union League of Philadelphia 

will address the^neeting. 

\2. Music — singing: " The Star-Spangled Banner." 

13. Benj. H. Brewster, delegate of the Union League of Philadelphia, will 
address the meeting. 

14. Music — singing: "Song for the Loyal National League," written ex- 

pressly for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

15. David S. Coddington will address the meeting. 

16. George Griswold, will read a Poem, entitled "Those Seventy Men,' 

written for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

17. Music — singing : " Our Union," written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street. 

18. Col. Stewart L. Woodford will address the meeting. 



12 

Tnrs stand was placed immediately in front of the statue of Washington. 
Long befoi'e the commencement, a great mass of people . collected beneath 
the inspiration of the Father of their Country, and by 4 p. m. the auditors 
at this stand were numbered by thousands. A salute was fired by the 
workingmen in the employ of Mr. Henry Brewster, from two six-pounders. 
This stand was provided with a paraboloid sound-reflector, which throws 
the voice of a speaker much further than it would otherwise go, and 
renders speaking in the open air comparatively easy. This is a contrivance 
of Colonel Grant, of calcium-light celebrity. 

Two huge rolls of paper, so large that it was necessary to wind them on 
immense spools prepared for the purpose, stood on the table. They were 
the rolls of signers to the pledge of the Loyal National League. ■ 

After the gi*and march from " Le Prophete," by Grafulla's band, Mr 
Gkokge GiuswOLD called the meeting to order, and nominated i^Iayor 
Opdyke to preside. His nomination wbs received with enlhusia?in. 

On taking the chair, the Mayor said : 

SPEECH OF MAYOR OPDYKE. 

Fellow-Citizens : For the third time since the outbreak of this 
wicked rebellion we have assembled at this spot, consecrated to civil 
libei-ty by the statue of Washington, to renew our pledges of patriotic 
devotion to our country. [Cheers.] On the first occasion we met to give 
our defiant response lo the booming of rebel guns against Fort Sumter. 
To-day, the avenging arms of freemen are returning llie blows then struck 
by traitors against that ill-fated fortress. [Applause.] We do not yet know 
the result ; but let us hope and pray to God, that these blows may fall so 
quick and heavy that the enemy will be speedily driven from this strong- 
hold, and that the starry emblem of our nationality may again wave in 
triumph over its ramparts. [Cheers.] Nor do I believe that we should 
shed many tears if the traitorous city in its rear, where this foul rebellion 
was hatched, should share the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. [Great 
cheering.] INIy friends, I rejoice to see you here in such overwhelming 
numbers. It jn-oves that in this metropolis of the Iniion, the call ol' un- 
conditional loyalty is a bugle blast which reaches the public he;ut, and 
stirs it to its inmost centre. It proves that the people of New York do not 
un<k'restiinale the priceK'ss value of that Tnion, which has made us a 
great, prosperous, an<l powerful nation. It proves tl.eir unalterable deter- 
miiuition to maintain it at whatever cost. [Applau.<e.] But why are we 
here to-day in such countless numbers? It is, in the first place, lo remove 
all doul)t in the pubru- mind, here and elsewhere — nay, everywhere througli- 
out the civili/ed world, that the |)eopIe of this city are unconditionally and 
almost unanjniously loyal to tlie government. [Ap[>lause.] The senti- 
ments recently uttered by lenders of political factions, and the sad revela- 
tions of Lord Lyons [derisive laughter], nuiy have created stune doubts 
as to the unalterable determination of our people to stand by the g(»vern- 
nient at all hazards, and under all [)ossible circumstances. This magnifi- 



13 

cent meeting will dispel these doubts. [Cheers.] In the second place, we 
are hereto declare our unalterable purpose, until this relDellion is suppress- 
ed, to hold all party interests and allegiance subordinate to patriotism. 
Until that great end is obtained, we will know no parties but one w^hich is 
for the government, and another which is against it; that Ave Avill stand 
as a band of brothers in support of the cause which is as dear to us as 
life, and against all who would betray it, or strive to overthrow it, where- 
ever they may be found, Avhether North or South, East or West, at home 
or abroad. [Applause.] Without detaining yon longer, when we have 
so many eloquent gentlemen here, I wish to introduce to you first, before 
the regular proceedings of this meeting are opened, the hero of the Harriet 
Lane, Avhen she was captured at Galveston. The boy, Robert Cummings, 
was the last to leave that ill-fated vessel. He seized a revolver in each 
hand, and in the midst of the rebels fired right and left, and, it is believed, 
killed a number of them, until he was finally wounded and canied below. 
[Loud applause. "Stand him up."] 

Master Cummings, a sturdy little tar, mounted a chair, and was loudly 
cheered. 

Mr. George Gkiswold read the following address, prepared by Dr. 
Francis Lieber, it was received with great applause. 



ADDEESS. 

It is just and vvdse that men engaged in a great and arduous cause 
should profe.'^s anew, fi-om time to time, their faith, and pledge themselves 
to one another, to stand by their cause to the last extremity, even at the 
sacrifice of all they have and all that God has given them — their wealth, 
their blood, and their children's blood. We solemnly pledge all this to 
our cause, for it is the cause of our Country and her noble history, of 
freedom, and justice, and truth — it is the cause of all we hold dearest on 
this earth : we profess and pledge this — plainly, broadly, openly in the 
cheering time of success, and most fervently in the day of trial and 
reverses. 

We recollect how, two years ago, when reckless arrogance attacked 
Fort Sumter, the response to that boom of treasonable cannon was read, 
in our city, in the flag of our country — waving from every steeple and 
school-house, from City Plall and Court House, fi'om every shop window 
and market stall, and fluttering in the hand of every child, and on the 
head-gear of every horse in the busy street. Two j'ears have passed ; 
uncounted sacrifices have been made — sacrifices of wealth, of blood, and 
limb, and life — of friendship and brotherhood, of endeared and hallowed 
pursuits and sacred ties — and still the civil war is raging in bitterness and 
heart-burning — still we make the same profession, and still Ave pledge 
ourselves firmly to hold on to our cause, and persevere in the struggle into 
which unrighteous men, bewildered by pride, and stimulated by bitter 
hatred, have plunged us. 

We profess ourselves to be loyal citizens of these United States ; and by 



14 

loyalty we mean a candid and loving devotion to the object <o which a loya 
man — a loyal husband, a loyal friend, a loyal citizen — devotes himself. We 
eschew the attenuated arguments derived by trifling scholars from meagre 
etymology. We take the core and substance of this weighty word, and 
pledge ourselves that we will loyally — not merely outwardly and formally, 
according to the letter, but frankly, fervently and according to the spirit — 
adhei-e to our country, to her institutions, to freedom, and her power, and 
to that great institution called the government of our countiy, founded by 
our fathers, and loved by their sons, and by all right-minded men who have 
become citizens of this land by choice and not by birth — who have 
wedded this country in the maturity of their age as verily their own. We 
pledge ourselves as National men devoted to the Nationality of this great 
people. No government can wholly dispense with loyalty, except the 
fiercest despotism ruling by naked intimidation ; but a republic stands in 
greater need of it than any other goverimient, and most of all a republic 
beset by open rebellion and insidious treason. Loyalty is pre-eminently a 
civic virtue in a free country. It is patriotism cast in the graceful mould 
of candid devotion to the harmless government of an unshackled nation. 

In pledging ourselves thus, we know of no party. Parties are unavoida- 
ble in free countries, and may be useful if they acknoAvledge the countiy 
far above themselves, and remain within the .sanctity of tlie fundamental 
law which protects the enjoyment of liberty prepared for all within its 
sacred domain. l>ut Party has no meaning in far the greater number of 
the hi'diest and the common relations of human life. When we are ailing, 
we do not take medicine by party prescription. We do not build ships by 
party measurement ; Ave do not pray for our daily bread by party dis- 
tinctions ; we do not take our chosen ones to our bosoms by party demar- 
cations, nor do we eat or drink, sleep or wake, as partisans. We do not 
eujov tlie ilowers of spring, nor do we harvest the grain, by party lines. 
We do not incur punishments for infractions of the commandments 
according to party creeds. We do not pursue truth, or cultivate science, 
by l)arty dogmas ; and we do not, we must not, love antl defend our 
country and our liberty, dear to us as part and portion of our very selves, 
accordiu" to party rules. Woe to him who does. When a house is on 
fire, and a mother with iier child cries lor help at the window above, shall 
tlie firemen at the engine be allowed to trille away the precious time in- 
party bickerings, or is then the only word — " Water! pump away; up with 
the ladder!" 

Let us not be like the liyzautine.s those wretches who quarrelled about 
contemptible party refinements, tlieological though they were, while the 
truculent Mussulman was steadily drawing nearer — nay, some of whom 
would even go to the lord of the crescent, and with a craven heart would 
beg for a pittance of the si)oil, so that they would be spared, and could 
vent their party spleen again>t their kin in blood, and fellows in religion. 

We know of no j)arty in our present troubU's; the word is here an 
empty word, 'i'he only line which divides tin' people of the North, runs 
between the nuis.s of htyal men wlio stand by tluir country, no matter to 
wliia place of political nucting tluy were usivl to resort, or with wiiat 
accent lliey utter the language of tin- land, or what religion they prole.s><, or 
what sentiments they nuiy liave uttered in the excitement of former dis- 



15 



cussions, on the one hand, and those on the other hand, who keep outside 
of that line — traitors to their country in the hour of need — or those who 
allow themselves to be misled by shallow names, and by reminiscences 
which cling around those namet from by-gone days, linding no application 
in a time which asks for things more sterling than names, theories, or 
platforms. 

If an alien enemy were to land his hosts on your shores, would you fly 
to your arms and ring the tocsin because your country is in danger, or 
would you meditatively look at your sword and gun, and spend your time 
in pondering whether the administration in power, which must and can 
alone direct the defence of your hearths, has a right to be styled by this or 
that party name, or whether it came into power with your assistance, and 
will appoint some of your party to posts of honor or comfortable emolu- 
ments ? And will any one now lose his time and fair name as an honest 
and bi'ave citizen, when no foreigner, indeed, threatens your country, at 
least not directly, but far more, when a reckless host of law-defying men, 
heaping upon yon the vilest vituperation that men who do not leave be- 
hind them the ingenuity of civilization when they relapse into barbarism, 
can invent — when this host threatens to sunder your country and cleave 
your very history in twain, to deprive you of your rivers which God has 
given you, to extinguish your nationality, to break down your liberty and 
to make that land, which the Distributor of our sphere's geography has 
placed between the old and older world as the greatest link of that civilization 
which is destined to encircle the globe — to make that land the hot-bed of an- 
gry petty powers, sinking deeper and deeper as they quarrel and fight, and 
quarreling and fighting more angrily as they sink deeper 1 It is the very 
thing your foreign enemies desire, and have long desired. When nullifica- 
tion threatened to bring about secession — and the term secession was used 
at that early period — foreign journals stated in distinct words that Eng- 
land was deeply interested in the contest ; for nullification might bring on 
secession, and secession would cause a general disruption — an occurrence 
which would redound to the essential benefit of Great Britain. 

But the traitors of the North, who have been so aptly called adders or 
copperheads — striking, as these reptiles do, more secretly and deadly even 
than the rattlesnake, which has some chivalry, at least in its tail — believe, 
or pretend to believe, that no fragmentary disruption would follow a divis- 
ion of our country into North and South, and advocate a compromise, by 
which they affect to believe that the two portions may possibly be 
reunited after a provisional division, as our pedlers putty a broken china 
cup. 

As to the first, that we might pleasantly divide into two comfortable 
portions, we prefer being gviided by the experience of all histoiy, to follow- 
ing the traitors in their teachinos. We will not hear of it. We live in 
an age when the woi'd is Nationalization, not De-nationalization; when 
fair Italy has risen, like a new-born goddess, out of the foaming waves of 
the Mediterranean. All destruction is quick and easy ; all growth and 
formation is slow and toilsome. Nations bi'eak up, like splendid mirrors 
dashed to the ground. They do not break into a number of well-shaped, 
neatly framed little looking-glasses, l^ut a far more solemn truth even 
than this comes here into play. It is with nations as with families and 



16 

with individuals. Those destined by nature to live in the bonds of friend- 
ship and mutual kindliness, become the bitterest and most irreconcihible 
enemies, when once fairly separated in angry enmity ; in precisely the 
same degree in which atfectiou and good--v\'^l were intended to subsist be- 
tween them. We must have back the South, or else those who will not 
reunite with us must leave the country ; we must have the country at any 
price. If, however, a plain division between the North and the South 
could take place, who will deny that tliose very traitors would instantly 
begin to manoeuvre for a gradual annexation of the North to -the South ? 
It is known to be so. Some of them, void of all shame, have avowed it. 
They are ready to petition on their knees for annexation to the South, and 
to let the condescending grantor, "holding the while his nose," introduce 
slavery, tluit blessed " coi'ner-stone of" the newest " civilization," into the 
North, which has been happily purged from this evil. Let us put the heel 
on this adder, and bruise all treason out of its head. 

As to tiie compromise wliich they propose, we know of no compromise 
witli crime that is not criminal itself, and senseless in addition to its being 
wicked. New guarantees, indeed, may be asked for at tlie proper time, 
but it is now our turn to ask for them. Tliey will be guarantees of 
peace, of the undisturbed integrity of our country, of law, and liberty, and 
security, asked for and insisted upon by the Union men, who now pledge 
themselves not to listen to the words, compromise, new guarantoes Ibr the 
South, armistice, or convention of delegates from the South and North — 
as long as this war shall last, until the North is victorious, and shall have 
estal)lished again the national authority over the lengtli and breadtli of the 
country as it was ; over the United States dominion as it was before the 
breaking out of the crime, whicli is now ruining our iiiir land — ruining it 
in point of wealth, but, with God's help, elevating it in character, strength, 
and dignity. 

AVe believe that the question of the issue, which must attend the present 
contest, according to the character it has now acquired, is reduced to tliese 
sunple words — Either the Nortii conquers the South, or the Sc)uth con- 
quers the Nortli. JVlake up your minds for this alternative. Either the 
North con(iucrs the South and re-establishas law, freedom, and the integ- 
rity of our country, or the South comiucrs the North by arms, or by 
treiison at home, and covers our portion of tlie country with disgrace and 
slavery. 

Let us not slu'ink from facts or niini-e the truth, but rather plainly pre- 
sent to our minds the essential character of the struggle in which liun- 
dreds of tliousands, that ought to be brothers, are now engaged. ^Vllat 
Las brought us to the.'^e grave straits ? 

Ave we two different r;ices, as the new ethnologists of the South, with 
prolbund knt)wledge of lii.'tory :md ol' tlieir own i-kin.s names, and language, 
prorlaim ? Have tliey produced the names wliich iMUopt! nientic)ns wlu'U 
American literature is spoken ot ? Have tlii-y produced t)ur Cra w lords ? 
Have they advanced science? Have they the givat schools of the age ^ 
Do they speak the choice idiom of the cultivate*! man ? Have the think- 
ers and inventors of the age their homes in that region 1 la their .standard 
of <i)mforl exalted above that of ours ? What has this wondrous race 
pro«luced '. what new idea has it added to the great stock of civilization ? 



17 



It has produced cotton, and added the idea that slavery is divine. Does 
this establish a superior race ? 

The French, ourselves, the English, the Germans, the Italians, none of 
whom are destitute of national self-gratulation, have ever made a prepos- 
terous claim of constituting a diiFerent race. Even the new idea of a 
Latin Eace — a Bonaparte anachronism — is founded upon an error less re- 
volting to common sense and common knowledge. 

There is no fact or movement of gi-eater significance in all history of 
the human race, than the settlement of this great continent by European 
people at a period when, in their portion of the globe, great nations had 
been formed, and the national polity had finally become the normal type 
of government ; and it is a fact equally pregnant with momentous results, 
that the northern portion of this hemisphere came to be colonized chiefly 
by men who brought along with them thcf seeds of self-government, and a 
living common law, instinct with the principles of manly self-dependence 
and ci\ il freedom. 

The charters under which they settled, and which divided the American 
territory into colonies, were of little more importance than the vessels 
and their names in which the settlers crossed the Atlantic ; nor had the 
origin of these charters a deep meaning, nor was their source always 
pure. The people in this country always felt themselves to be one 
people, and unitedly they proclaimed and achieved their independence. 
The country as a whole was called by Washington and his compeers America, 
for want of a more individual name. Still, there was no outward and legal 
bond between the colonies, except the crown of England ; and when our 
people abjured their allegiance to that crown, each colony stood formally 
for itself. The Articles of Confederation were adopted, by which our fore- 
fathers attempted to establish a confederacy, uniting all that felt themselves 
to be of one nation, but were not one by outward legal form. It was the 
best united government our forefathers could think of, or of which, per- 
haps, the combination of circumstances admitted. Each colony came 
gradually to be called a State, and called itself sovereign, although none 
of them had ever exercised any of the highest attributes of sovereignty ; 
nor did ever after the States do so. 

Wherever political societies are leagued together, be it by the frail bonds 
of a pure confederacy, or by the consciousness of the people that they are 
intrinsically one people, and form one nation, without, however, a posi- 
tive National Government, then the most powerful of these ill-united por- 
tions needs must rule ; and, as always more than one portion wishes to be 
the leader, intestine struggles ensue in all such incoherent governments. It 
has been so in antiquity ; it has been so in the middle ages ; it has been so, 
and is so in modern times. Athens and Sparta, Castile and Aragcn, 
Austria and Prussia, are always jealous companions, readily turned 
into bitter enemies. Those of our forefathers who later became the 
framers of our Constitution, saw this approaching evil, and they ob- 
served many other iUs which had already overtaken the confederacy. 
Even Washington the strong and tenacious patriot, was brought to the 
brink of despondency. It was a dark period in our history ; and it wa 
then that our fathers most boldly, yet most considerately, performed the 
greatest act that our annals record — they engrafted a national, cou.plete 

2 



18 

and representative government on our halting confederacy ; a government 
in which the Senate, though still representing the States as States, became 
Nationalized in a great measure, and in which the House of Repiesenta- 
tives became exclusively Nationsd. Virginia, which, under the Articles of 
Confederation, was approaching the leadership over all (in the actual as- 
sumption of which she woulil have been resisted by other rapidly growing 
states, which would inevitably have led to our Peloponnesian war) — Vir- 
ginia was now represented according to her population, like every other 
portion of the country ; not as Virginia, not as a unit, but by a number of 
representatives who voted, and were bound to vote individually, accord- 
ing to tlieir consciences and best light, as National men. The danger of 
internal struggle and provincial bitterness had passed, and our country now 
fairly entered as an equal among the leading nations in the course, where 
nations, like Olympic chariot-horses, draw abreast the car of civiliza- 
tion. We advanced rapidly; the task assigned to us by ProAndence was 
performed with a rapidity which had not been known before ; for we had 
a National (TOvernment commensurate to our land and, it seemed, ade- 
quate to our destiny. 

But while thus united and freed from provincial retardation and entan- 
glements, a new portent appeared. 

Slavery, which had been planted here in the colonial times, and which 
had been increased in this country, by the parent governmeiit, against the 
urgent protestations of the colonists, and especially of the Virginians, ex- 
isted in all the colonies at the time when they declared tliemselves inde- 
pendent. It was felt by all to be an evil wliich must be dealt with as 
best it might be, and the gradual extinction of which must be wisely yet 
surely pro\ ided for. Even Mr. Calhoun, in his earlier days, called slavery 
a scaffolding erected to rear the mansion of civilization, which must be 
taken down when the fabric is iinished. 

This institution gave way gradually as civilization advanced. It has 
done 80 in all periods of history, and especially of Chri-^tian history. 
Slaveiy melts away like snow before the rays of rising civilization. Tlie 
South envied the North for getting rid of .slavery so ea-ily, and often ex- 
pressed hiT envy. IJut a combination of untoward circumstances led the 
Soutli to change hor mind. First, it was maintained that if slavery is an 
evil, it was their affair and no one else had a rigiit to di.scuss it or to intorl'ere 
with it ; then it came to be maintained (hat it was no «'vil ; then slavery 
came to bo declared an important national element, which retjuired its own 
distinct representation and especial protection ; then it was said — we feel 
ashamed to mention it — that slavery is a divine institution. To use the 
words of the great South-Carolinian, wliose death we deeply mourn — of 
James Louis Petigru — tlicy placed, like the templars, Christ and lia- 
phomet on the same altar, wor.-<hipping God and Satan simultaneously. 
hut tliough slavery were divine, tliey dioked the wells of common knowl- 
edge with sand and stones, and enacted perpetual ignorance for tlu' slave. 
Tiien the renewal of that tratlic, the records of which tills far the darkest 
pages of European history, and wliich the most stronuous and protracted 
eU'ort.s of (tivilized nations have not yet wholly sncceeded in abolishing, 
was loudly called for; and our national laws, making that unhallowed 
trade piracy, were declared unconstitutional. Yet still another stop was 



19 

to be taken. It was proclaimed that slavery is a necessary element of a 
new and glorious civilization ; and those who call themselves conservatives 
plunged recklessly into a new-ffmgled theory of poUtics and civilization. 

Some thirty years ago Ave fhat heard of Southern Rights. Some twenty 
years since we were lirst made familiar with the expression, Southern 
Principles. Within the present lustre, Southern Civilization has been 
proclaimed. What else remained but to invent Southern Mathematics 
and to decree a Southern God ? And what does Southern mean in this 
connection "? South is a word which indicates relative position in 
geography. Yet, in these combinations, it refers neither to geography, 
nor to climate, nor to product, but singly and exclusively to Slavery. 
Southern Rights, Southern Principles, Southern Civihzation, and South- 
ern Honor or " Chivalry," are novel phrases, to express the new idea of 
principles and civilization characterized and tested by the dependence of 
one class of people as chattel upon anotlier. A more appalling confusion 
of ideas is not recorded in the history of any tribe or nation that has 
made any use of the terms — Rights, Principles, or Civilization. 

Thus slavery came to group the different portions of our coun'ry ; out- 
side of, and indeed in hostility to, the National Government and National 
Constitution. The struggle for the leadership was upon us. The South 
declared openly that it must rule ; we, in the meantime, declaring that the 
Nation must rule, and if an issue is forced upon us, between the South and 
the North, then, indeed, the North must rule and shall rule. This is the 
war in which we ai*e now engaged — in which, at the moment this is read 
to you, the precious blood of your sons, and brothers, and fathers, is flow- 
ing. 

Whenever men are led, in the downward course of error and passion, 
ultimately to declare themselves, with immoral courage, in favor of a thing 
or principle which for centuries and thousands of years their own race 
has declared, by a united voice, an evil or a crime, the mischief does not 
stop with this single declaration. It naturally, and by a well-established 
law, unhinges the whole morality of man ; it warps his intellect, and in- 
flames his soul, with bewildering passions, with defiance to the simple.st 
truth and plainest fact, and with vindictive hatred toward those who 
cannot agree with him. It is a fearful thing to become the defiant idolater 
of wrong. Slavery, and the consequent separation from the rest of men, 
begot pride in the leading men of the South — absurdly even pretending 
to be of a ditferent and better race. Pride begot bitter and venomous 
hatred, and this bitter hatred, coupled with the love of owning men as 
things, begot at last a hatred of that which distinguishes the whole race to 
which we belong, more than aught else — the striving for and love of lib- 
erty. 

There is no room, then, for pacifying arguments with such men in arms 
against us, against their duty, their country, their civilization. All that 
remains for the present is the question, AVho shall be the victor"? 

It is for all these reasons which have been stated, that we pledge our- 
selves anew, in unwavering loyalty, to stand by and support the Govern- 
ment in all its efforts to suppress the rebellion, and to spare no endeavor 
to maintain, unimpaired, the national unity, both in principle and terri- 
torial boundary. 



20 



We will support the Government, and call on it with a united voice to 
use prrcater and greater enei-gy, as the contest may seem to draw to a 
close ; so that whatever advaiitajies we may gain, we may pursue them 
with increjusiiig etriciency, and bring every one in tlie military or civil 
service, that may be slow in the performance of hi-; duty, to a quick and 
effii'ient account. 

We approve of the Conscription Act, and will give our loyal aid in 
its being carrit'd out, wiionever the Government shall consiiler the increase 
of our army necessary; and we believe that the energy of the Govern- 
ment should: be plainly*sho\vn by retaliatory measures, in checking the 
savage brutalities conmiitted by the enemy against our men in arms, or 
against unarmed citizens, when they fall into their hands. 

We declare that slaveiy, the poisonous root of this war, ought to be 
compressed within its narrowest feasible limits, with a view to its speedy 
extinction. 

We declare that this is no question of politics, but one of patriot- 
ism ; and we hold every one to be a traitor to his country, that works 
or speaks in favor of our criminal enemies, directly or indirectly, whether 
his offence be such that the law cjin overtake him or not. 

We declare our inmost abhorrence of the secret societies which exist 
among us in favor of the rebellious enemy, and that we will denounce 
ever}' |)articipator in these nefarious conventicle.**, whenever known to us. 
We believe publicity the very basis of liberty. 

We pletlge our fullest support of the Government in every measure 
which it shall deem fit to adopt against unfriendly and mischievous neu- 
trality ; and we call upon it, as citizens that have the right and duty to 
call for protection on their own Government, to adopt the speediest |)jssi- 
ble meastu'e to that important end. 

We loyally support our G jvernment in its declarations and measures 
again.st all and every attempt of mediation, or armed or unarmed inter- 
ference in oiu* civil war. 

We soh'mnly declare that we will resist every partition of.any jiortion 
of our country, to the last extremity ; whether tliis partition should be 
brought aljout by rebiillious or treasonaljle citizens of our own. or by 
foreign powers, in the way that Poland was torn to pieces. 

We pronounce every foreign minister accredited to our Government, 
who tampers with oiu' enemies, and holds covert intercourse with disloyal 
men among us, as failing in his duty toward us, and toward his own 
people, and we await with attention the action of our (rovernment 
regJirding the recent and surprising breach of this duty. 

And we C4dl upon every American, be he sucli by birth or choice, to 
join the loyal movement of these Natioiuil Leagues, which is naught else 
than to join and follow our beckoning Hag, and to adopt for his device — 

O.U K' (" (> r N T K V . 



21 

The following resolutions were then read : 

I. Resolved, That, assembled on the anniversary of the assault on Sumter, and 
reviewing tbe two years that have since elapsed, in the advance which our 
government has made from the position of unexampled weakness to which it 
had been then reduced by imbecility and treachery, we recognize the won- 
drous vitality and strength of our republican institutions, based upon the will 
of an intelligent and free people. At their voice a million of men have sprung 
to arms. An eifective navy has been suddenly created, and the monstrous 
expenses of a mighty war have been j^romptly and cheerfully met without bor- 
rowing a dollar from the capitalists of Europe, or asking assistance from any 
nation upon earth. 

That the feeling of loyal America, in view of all the diflSculties of the case, 
has deepened into the firm and clear conviction that the rebellion can 
be crushed, ought to be crushed, and shall be crushed ; and that the last Con- 
gress, in placing at the disposal of the Executive without stint the men, money, 
and resources of the nation, was the true exponent of the devotion and loyalty 
of the American people, and of their unalterable determination to preserve 
unimpaired the national unity, both in principle and territory, against armed 
traitors in the South, their aiders and abettors in the North, and their pirati- 
cal allies in Great Britain. 

II. Resolved, That, apart from the treachery that has lurked, and which we 
fear still lurks, in the civil and military departments of the government, we be- 
lieve that the errors and delays that have hitherto retarded the prosecution of 
the war, and the success of our arms, have arisen from the erroneous belief 
that the rebels have possessed certain constitutional rights which the National 
government was bound to respect. 

That the recent decision of the Supreme Court of the Nation resolv- 
ing, by the solemn adjudication of that high tribunal, to whose judgment 
the American people are accustomed to bow, all constitutional doubts as 
to the character of the war in which the nation is engaged, leaves no place 
hereafter for any such mistake on the part of any officer, civil, military, or 
naval, since the judicial declaration, that the territory occupied by the rebels 
is "enemy's territory; and all persons residing within this territory, whose 
property may be used to increase the revenues of the hostile power, are in the 
condition to be treated as enemies, though not foreigners," has defined beyond 
all question the rights and duty of the government and the people. 

That, in accordance with the principles of that decision, now to be recog- 
nized as the law of the land, the war should henceforth be waged with a 
single aim to the conquest of the rebellion, with the least delay and the 
smallest burden to the nation at large, by depriving the enemy of his strength 
and his resources in whatsoever they may consist, by appropriating his prop- 
erty wherever it may be convenient, and by withdrawing from his support, en- 
rolling in our ranks, and treating as soldiers of the republic, all loyal men to 
be found in the South, without regard to race, creed, or complexion. 

III. Resolved, That when on the day on whose solemn anniversary we are gath- 
ered together, the rebels of the South boasted that they had inaugurated war 
against the Republic, that they had humbled the stars and stripes, and that 
their confederate counterfeit of our flag would soon float even over Fanueil 
Hall, t!:e American people rallied in defence of that national unity which had 
been their glory at home and their safeguard abi-oad ; and while they have 
maintained the ancient honor of their flag on man}- a well-contested held, and 
will maintain it, until it floats again over Sumter, find wherever it has floated 
in the past ; they, nevertheless, have recognized, and do now recognize, the 
fact that the rebellion was not organized by the people of the South, but by 
their bad and ambitious leaders, who, armed with the muniments of war 
filched from the national government, precipitated the revolution upon the 
Southern states. 

That we also recognize the fact that the object of those leaders is to 



22 

establish a military or monarchical government, sustained by an organized 
and cemented aristocracy, in which tlie principles of democracj' should be 
utterly ignored, its fundamental doctrine of " the greatest good of the greatest 
number," should be discarded as a pestilent and pernicious dogma, and the 
rights and hapjjiness of the majority of the citizens be sacrificed to the inter- 
ests of a few slaveholders. 

That we further recognize the fact that, with this intent. Slavery was 
made the chief corner-stone of the Southern confederacy, and in the 
remorseless conscription for their army, persons holding twenty slaves are ex- 
empt, while the non-slaveholders are made to bear the burden of a war in- 
tended to impoverish and degrade them. And we gladly remember that in 
the overthrow of ti)at bastard confederacy, and the uprooting of its corner- 
stone, will be concerned not simply the welfore of the nation at large, but the 
future peace, prosperity, and hajjjiiness of the South ; that in its future results 
the war for the Union will be one, not of subjugation but of deliverance ; and 
that as regards all classes in the rebel states, excepting only the leaders of 
the rebellion, our triimiph will be their gain. 

IV. Resolved. That in view of the recent conduct of the British government, 
in permitting a piratical vessel to be built, equipped, and manned in British 
ports, for the use of the Southern Confederates, and to go forth under the 
British flag, in disregard of the remonstrances of the American minister, 
accompanied by ample proof of the character of the vessel, to prey upon Amer- 
ican commerce, and plunder and Ijurn defenceless merchant ships, receiving 
the while the hospitalities of British colonial ports, it is proper for us to recall 
to the British government and the British people the contrast between such a 
violation of international neutrality, and the honorable fidelity and promptness 
which the American government, from its foundation, has uniformly observed 
toward the government of Great Britain. 

The example set by AYashington in observing, in regard to England, 
the strictest neutrality in her war with France; the peremptory instruc- 
tion given by Hamilton, when Secretary of the Treasury, to the collectors 
of our ports to exercise " the greatest vigilance, care, activity, and impar- 
tiality, in searching for and discovering any attempt to fit out vessels or 
expeditions in aid of either part}', the action of our government on the 
suggestion of Mr. Ilannnond, the British minister, in seizing a vessel that 
was being fitted out as a French privateer: the restoration to the British 
govcrnnu'nt of the British ship •' Grange," taken by the French in Ameri- 
can waters ; the equipment bv President Jetferson, in 180b, of a force to 
cruise within our own seas and arrest vessels embarking in a war in which 
the country had no part, and "bring in the offenders for trial as jiirates,'' 
and the ]jronipt fidelity with which succeeding Presidents have performed 
their duty in this regard, especially toward Great Britain, down to its 
Canadian rebellion in 1838, and its war with Bussia in 1854, the facts 
of whi<di are fresh in their recollection — complete a record that entitles the 
American government to the fairest exercise on the part of England of the 
neutrality she professes in the pending war with the Southern Confederates. 
That, apart from the fact that the aid thus extended in England to the Confede- 
rate cause without interference by the government, in defiance of the senti- 
monts of the civilized world, to a pretended governinent, which boast.s as its 
corner-stono human slavery, it is the sentiment of this meeting that the gov- 
ernment of th(! United Slates should make the most urgent appeal to the honor 
of tiio British government, to the justice of the British courts, and the moral 
Fcnse rif the Ibifisji peopb', to provide a remedy for these outrages, and avert 
the poHsiiiility of ii coMllict Ix^tweiMi two nations who should he united liy all 
the ties that spring from a couwnon ancestry, and a common eivili/.ation. 

V. Jifso/nd, That we cannot sei)arate on an <>eca-i<in like the present, when 
we again catch the echoes of cannon thundering against Sumtir, without re- 
calling, with swelling pride and ailed ionate regard, our brave army and navy, 
wherever, gathered for the defence of the country, and especially those that 



23 



attract the gaze of the world on the Cooper, the Rappahannock, and the Mi?- 
issippi. 

That, to protect the rights of our gallant defenders, is the grateful duty of 
all true Americans ; and that we heartily approve the judicious act of our legis- 
lature to secure them their privilege of a vote, while we leave to the scorn 
they deserve, those men, recreant to the first principles of democracy, who, 
ready to abet the enemies of their country, even by invoking intervention 
from a British minister, with a base consistency, would wrest from our citizen- 
soldiers the right to pass upon such disloyal conduct. 

VI. Resolved, That, with the view of advising the national government of the 
earnest devotion of the loyal masses here assembled, and of their decided views 
in regard to the manner in which the war should be prosecuted, a copy of these 
resolufions be respectfully addressed to the President and each member of his 
cabinet, to whom, by acclamation, we wish God-speed in their glorious work of 
maintaining the unity, the freedom, and the supremacy of our common country. 



The Mayor then said : 

I have now the honor of introducing to you a gentleman who is part 
and parcel of the government — a distinguished member of the administra- 
tion — a gentleman of Southern birth and Southern associations, but whose 
heart beats as loyal as yours or mine. I have the pleasure of presenting 
to you the Hon. Montgomery Blair, Postmaster-General of the United 
States. [Great applause, and " Three cheers for Blair,"] 

SPEECH OF HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR. 

Mr. Blair said : 

Fellow-Citizens of New York : I am gratified to meet so vast an 
assemblage, and to unite with you in doing honor to the glorious cause 
which we have met here to pledge ourselves to support. This, my friends, 
is a most appropriate occasion upon wdiich to renew our pledges to that 
flag which has come down to us with so many hallow^ed memories asso- 
ciated with the founders of this government. The day upon which an at- 
tempt was made to subvert this government is a day to be remembered ; 
it is a day to be remembered, and I hope, with the treatment which we are 
going to give the traitors, that we will make it to be remembered by them 
for eternity. [Cheers. " Good !"] The contest in which we are engaged 
is a struggle for the great idea underlying our political fabric, and as we 
live in an age when opinion is the great element of power, it is essential 
to our success that the true nature of the struggle should be comprehended 
by good men at home and abroad. Some reference to the parties to it 
may contribute to effect this object. From the outset the oligarchic in- 
terest everywhere has been at no loss on which side to range itself. Every- 
where it has identified itself with the rebellion because it battled in the 
cause of privilege and against free government, and everywhere it has ex- 
erted itself promptly, yet skilfully, to support the rebel cause. AVielding 
vast power in all European governments, controlling the whole foreign 
press and some of our own, and assuming from the first mutterings of the 



t^mpppt that our ship of state was a wreck, as they had always predicted 
it would be, they have looked on only to find facts to sustain a foregone 
conclusion and otherwise to exert all the power tliey could wield to con- 
summate their wishes. I do not in thus speaking of this class, and espe- 
cially of the European branch of it, wish to be understood as impeaching 
their motives or questioning the sincerity of their conviction th:it, in I he 
preservation of their own and kindre 1 orders, they are doing the best for 
mankind. As individuals, and especially is this true of the British aris- 
tocracy, they are distinguished by a high sense of honor, hy courage, 
trutlifulness, and other manly qualities. But these personal characteristics 
only serve to give more effect to a mistaken policy in antagonism to free- 
dom and free government, which results necessarily from the relation to 
society to which thy are born and bred. They justly feel that the con- 
tinuance of such a government as ours saps the foundation of their order 
day by day, and hence, though we meddle not in their atlairs this class has 
warred upon us from the day we set up our democratic establishment in 
the wilds of America. For the most part this war has been carried on in 
the field of opinion by writers hired to combat the natural yearnings of 
the human heart for libeity. We have replied only by coutinuing to 
minister to human hapjiiness, giving free liomes to the oppressed, elevating 
the poor by instruction in free schools, and by having the gospel preached 
to all creeds. There was one point, however, upon which every letter- 
writer and book-making tourist who catered to the appetite of the estab- 
lished orders for American disparagement failed not to comment with the 
gi'eatest harshness. That was, that we tolerated African slavery. So bit- 
ter have been these di'iumciations that many persons sujjposed, when the 
war broke out, that the English aristocrats for once would have to be on 
the side of those who were struggling for free government. Far from it. 
Like most of those among us who arc now signalizing themselves by de- 
nouncing the suspension of the writ of habeas car[)us, the conscription act, 
&c., their advocacy of freedom was, as we now see, only to serve the 
cause of slavery. It was for the freedom we cherished, not for the slavery 
we tolerated, they j'oviled us. See these proud aristocrats now, arming 
the slave-drivers at llichmon<l with iron-clad ships to strike down freedom, 
forgetting even the insults offered a few years since by their present allies — 
the Kiclimond snobbery — to the heir apparent of the English crown ! But 
do not suppose that by pointing to the evidences of sympathy and alliance 
between tiicse domestic and foreign foes of free government, I seek to stir 
you to wrath against Englantl. Far from it ; for while it is true 
that in all essentials the JJritish peer and our vulgar Masons and 
Slidt'lls, and the silly women who insult Union soldiers, are the 
same order of people, diifering only in cultivation and external circum- 
stances, but agreeing in tiie distinguishing characteristic of having no ijiitli 
in humanity, yet you must rememijer tiiat these worldlings do not i ule 
cither in England or America. Despite oi" tiieir ojiiiositiou, slavery was 
htriK'k down in the British realm, and despite of them the great Jvepublic 
will be saved, and the .slave machinery applied to subvert it destroyed. I 
feel assured of this, because not only our own j)eople, but (he people of 
Ein-opt', are l)oginning to understand, what 1 have .siid (he aristocrats ev- 
erywhere have understood from the (ii-st, (hat (his is a battle for conunon 
people ihrttughout (lie world, and that they now are, or soon will be, ready 



25 

to make common cause for freedom against the wide-spread conspiracy of 
aristocrats to destroy it. It is true tliat Lord Lyons tells liis government 
that our "democratic leaders" came stealthily to him, and made known 
their wish and purpose " to put an end to the war, even at the risk of 
losing the Southern states altogether," but " that it was not thought pru- 
dent to avow this desire, and that some hints of it, dropped before the 
elections, were so ill received, that a strong declaration in a contrary sense 
was deemed necessary by the democratic leaders." Lord Lyons further 
states that these democratic " leaders" thought " that the offer of media- 
tion, if made to a radical administration, would be rejected ; that if made 
at an unpropitious moment, it might increase the virulence with which the 
war is prosecuted. If their own party were in power, or virtually con- 
trolled the administration, they would rather, if possible, obtain an armis- 
tice without the aid of foreign governments ; but they would be disposed 
to accept an offer of mediation if it appeared to be the only means of put- 
ting a stop to hostilities. They would desire that the oifer should come 
from the great powers of Europe conjointly ; and in particular, that as 
little prominence as possible should be given to Great Britain." This is 
the sum of his lordship's revelations ; and if it were not that he entirely 
mistakes the character and influence of his men, they miglit be ominous pf 
the result which he and the ]5ritish ministry so confidently predict and 
devoutly wish. If the " chiefs" whom he describes as " calling loudly for 
a more vigorous prosecution of the war, and reproaching the government 
with slackness as well as with want of success in its military measures," 
but telling him that it was their wish " to put an end to it at the risk of 
losing the Southern states altogether," were really as able as he supposes 
they are, to bring the true democracy of the North to adopt the plans of 
the secessionists for the extension of slavery, to make it the foundation of 
the political institutions of the country, or to assent to the division of the 
country-7-resigning one half of it to slavery — then, indeed, might the ene- 
mies of popular government indulge their fond hope that the bright pros- 
pects which opened on the birth-day of free institutions in the New World, 
and have attended its progress to this hour, would soon close. But it is 
apparent, even from the narrative of the worthy and truly honorable rep- 
resentative of England, that " the leaders" who conferred with him were 
conscious that they could not lead their party to sanction their purposes, 
that they were forced to disavow them, and advised postponement of the 
offer of mediation till theji should come into power, which they only hoped 
to secure by " calling loudly for a more vigorous prosecution of the 
war, and reproaching the government with slackness as well as with want 
of success in its military measures" ! But the immense popular assembUes 
which have everywhere denounced mediation of any sort, show that no 
such jugglery would avail. The most distinguished leaders of the democ- 
racy in this great commonwealth attended the vast meeting of the 6th of 
March. They are here again to-night. They unite in council with the 
members of the republican party, with the chiefs of the old whig party, 
with those of the original anti-slavery party, with the American party, 
peculiarly jealous of foreign influence, and with those of other strong 
classes, which embrace, with a sort of kindred sympathy, the naturalized 
citizens of all Europe, as brothers enfranchized from feudal fetters, and ri- 
sing here to usefulness and influence as the equals of the native born free- 



26 

man. Every party and every class by whom free institutions are held dear 
in this country, merging all minor differences of opinion, are gatliering in 
eveiy quarter to devise measures to restore the nationality and secure the lib- 
erties of the countiy ; and to give effect to tliese, the shouts of battle 
from a million of brave men are heard by land and sea. They see the 
feudal lords who hold the slaves in the South in bondage, to raise 
the commodities on which the laborers of the feudal lords in Europe 
are to exhaust their energies to exalt their privileged orders, are sup- 
ported by such orders because of a common interest in the enslave- 
ment of mankind. And if the vassalage which holds the black race 
OS mere animated machines, and is rapidly reducing the poor whites of the 
South to a dcpenilence and suffering, rendering the fate of the slave of a 
kind master enviable — if such vassalage is to be upheld by the great mod- 
ern dynasties abroad, combining their military power to gi\e support to 
the despotic principle in a nation separated from them by the ocean, how 
long will it be before such armed usurpation here Avill, by its reactionary 
force, recover the arbitrary po\ver that belonged to the age of the Bour- 
bons, the Tiidors, and of that horde of feudal proprietors who monopolized 
the soil, holding the people as serfs appurtenant to the domain of masters, 
rising as a superstructure of oppression through grades from barons, counts, 
dukes, princes, and emperors to autocrats ! Our Southern chivalry, which 
but a generation back, signed our Miigna Charta of liberty and ecjuality, 
in the course of one lifetime, by the indoctrination of the slave system, 
working on one poor oppressed caste, are always prepared to join the Holy 
Alliance abroad in making a partition of this continent, and setting up 
dynasties deriving their type from the Congress of Vienna, and they have 
an improved feature on the old feudal system, tending to reinvigorafe it. 
In that state which led off in the assault upon the Union, the ownership 
of ten slaves, or an ecpiivalent, was an essential qualitication for a legisla- 
tor. Can-ying out this principle, the Confederate Congress has decreed, 
that twenty slaves shall exempt tiie master from military service. This 
will operate as a premium for multi[)lying slaves, and divide the connnu- 
nity into two creat classes, the producers and the soldiery ; creating a mili- 
tary government, one portion of the people to tight, the other to feed tiie 
fighters. The starveling whites not suited to war, and not subjected as 
soldiers, will become slaves to the owners of estates on whom they must 
depend. That the crowned heads of Europe, who are invited to nuike 
the political constitutions of this continent, as well as its cotton, their 
concern, should have a disposition to admit states into the Holy Alliance 
whi<h give such earnest hostility to free government, is not unnatural. 
But what will the more enlightened portion of the European population 
think of this conbinatioji with slaveholders to extirpate liberty in America? 
TIm! organs of the privileged orders in (ireat Britain, the Qiiart<rii/ Jle- 
vietv, 'J'/.c '/'lines, &c., already congratnlate their patrt»ns on the tliet that 
rebellion here has arrested Ketbrm in Englaml. They proclaim that 
I/)rds I'almerston and Bussell reached their power in England hy pledges 
of relbrm, and now they rtjoice that the liehelliun has exonerated them 
from tlieir obligation ! Tliey would now, for the third time, attempt to 
crush the free |)riiiciples which, niirtured here beyond the reach of des|)otic 
coalitionB, has attained a prosperity, sj)reading an inlhicnce back to the 
country of their origin, reforming their government and elevating their 



27 



people ; and it is in the interest of the selfish few that the progress of na- 
tions in refoi'm, in freedom and happiness, is to be aiTested. Is it possible 
that a great war, waged by the potentates of Europe, in alliance with the 
slave system propagated in the South, against the free states of America, 
will be cordially supported by the substantial, intelligent body of the Euro- 
pean populations'? Can Lord Lyons persuade himself or them that there 
are democratic leaders in the free states, capable of drawing the democratic 
masses to join foreign powers in mediating a peace dividmg the empire of 
free government on this continent with slavery, European sovereigns to 
hold the balance of the continent "? No patriot, no honest man of any 
party, no democrat of influence with a party which has never been want- 
ing to the country when its fortunes hung upon the scale of battle, could 
have made the questions which were submitted to Lord Lyons, Davis, 
Benjamin, Floyd, and Toombs, call themselves democrats. Their emissa- 
ries in Europe, Slidell, Sanders, and Mason, call themselves democrats. 
Their creatures in the free states, Buchanan, Toucey, and the subaltern 
traitors associated with them, spared by the clemency of the administra- 
tion, call themselves democrats. But these men in the North are only 
so many men on gibbets. The real democrats everywhere are with 
the real republicans, in arms for their country and its Constitution. ^ It 
is not the interest of nations to destroy each other, and I hope no nation 
will interpose in any way to countenance the treason which has no object 
but the overthrow of republican institutions. The only effect would be 
to embitter and prolong the strife. England, especially, which has some 
consciousness of the value of such institutions, and has evinced a full 
sense of the mischief of the slave power now seeking her help to sacrifice 
them here, will, I doubt not, recoil from the leprous touch. There was a 
time, indeed, when even that very class of Englishmen who would now 
see the Great Republic fall with so much satisfaction, looked toward it with 
very different feelings. It was when they apprehended invasion from France. 
Then the free states of this continent, proud of their race and of the inspira- 
tion, responded to the patriotic heart of Britain. They did not intend 
to be passive while " the Latin race" established their ascendency in the fa- 
therland. At that great crisis English statesmen recognized the value of this 
kindred sympathy, and honored the magnanimity which, forgetting the op- 
pression dealt to us as an infant people aspiring to equality with their brethren 
beyond the Atlantic, remembering only the glory of a common lineage, lan- 
guage, and literature. They felt, and with reason, that the mutual abhor- 
rence of slavery, in whatever form imposed, would induce the government 
of the United States to make common cause with England against any 
attempt to invade or enslave her. But now that their apprehensions 
of danger from across the channel are, for the time, allayed, and they feel 
no present need of help, the feeling for America, which for a moment ex- 
panded the hearts even of the English lordlings, has passed away. They 
have become as earnest as in '76 to overthrow our government, and are 
co-operating with the rebels, as with the tories, in every possible way, 
short of declared Avar, and have clearly evinced their disposition to take 
even that step whenever we will give thera a pretext for it, which will carry 
the people of England with them. We cannot, therefore, be too careful 
not to furnish the desired pretext, especially when the people of Europe, as 
well as of America, are awakening to their interest in this struggle. We 



28 

had bettor puffer for a time from the pirates set afloat in England, and har- 
bored and provisioned in their West India possession?, to devastate our 
commerce, to enable the Ensxli.-^li nation to put a stop to these outrages. 
I have confidence that they will do it, and I much prefer the mode adopted 
by the real noblemen of New York, to touch the hearts of the real nobility 
of England — the men wdio love truth and justice — to whom alone slie owes 
her gi-eafness among the nations of the earth — to that proposed by my friend, 
General Butler. To send the starving poor of England cargoes of food, 
while her aristocrats are turning loose upon us piratical vessels, tells more 
than words can express of the nature of this struggle, and who are allies in 
it. I will venture to affirm, that the mediating leaders who visited the 
British minister in November, are not among those who, while exhibiting 
such munificence toward his countrymen, were lavishing millions to sus- 
tain free government, althougli most of them are democrats. The rebel- 
lion here, this reactionary measure against free government, reacts across 
the water, stops all progress, all beneficence and reform for the people of 
Europe. That is the nature of this contest. You cannot, therefore, if 
you love yourselves, your rights, and tlie rights of those wliom you are to 
leave l)ehind you ; if you love your brothers in fatherland, and wish to have 
an asylum for them, and to extend the pi'inciples of libeity in the old con- 
tinent, you cannot but stand up for the government you have installed 
here, regardless for the moment of whom you have placed in power. I am 
a member, as my friend said, of the exi>ting government, and I say to you 
here, although its measures may not meet the approval of some of you, 
yet, rely upon it, you have as honest a man as ever God made installed in 
the chair of tlie Chief Magistrate. [Loud applause.] We have a man 
from the peoi)le, like many of those I see before me, having a lieart sym- 
pathetic for the masses ; a man working his way from an humble and ob- 
scure position, up to the elevated position that he now fills ; and, of course, 
he feels and feels deeply, as one of you, the nature of the struggle that I 
have been endeavoring to paint. You must support him, my friends. It 
is your (tause ; not his. [Three cheers for the President.] Thanking you 
again, my friends, for the cordiality and kindness witli which you have 
been pleased to receive me, I give way to others who can add much to 
what I imve said, and say it better. [I'rolonged cheers.] 

Mayor Oi'Dyke : Gentlemen, we have just heard patrjoiic and spirit- 
stirring words, from one member of the administration. A letter will now 
be read to you from another, who is not able to be present. John Austin 
Stevens, Jr., will read a letter from the Hon. S. P. Chase. 

John Austin Stevkns, Jr., then read a letter from INIr. Chase. 

Mr. Stkvens : In addition to what Mr. Cliase has sjiid, there are a few 
lines in a private letter. Witli your con.scnt I will read them : 

Washington, April 9, 1SC3. 

Mv I)k.\ii Sik: * * * * * You may think my letter rather 

too e.xpbcit and direct : but it Keoms to mo the times rt'(|iiin> pliiiiiness of speech. 

Wliiit waid ilio Ui)miiii orator wlioii (\itiline armed against \nn i-umitry ? 

*' Let what eack man Ikinks cuncerniufr tin liipublir he inscribed on htsjore/uad." 

yiucorely your frituid, 

s. r. CHASE. 

John Auhtin Stevens, Jr. 



Mayor Opdyke : Gentlemen, I have now the pleasure of introducing to 
you a distinguished and eloquent representative in Congress from a sister 
state, a gentleman who has stood by the government manfully and fear- 
lessly ; I introduce to you Judge Kellcy of Philadelphia, a delegate from 
the Loyal League of Philadelphia, which is represented here to-day by 
over one hundred members. (Loud applause.) 

SPEECH OP HON. WM. D. KELLEY. 

Judge Kei.t.ey said: In the name of unconditional loyalty to the Con- 
stitution, Philadelphia greets New York. [Cheers.] In the name of the 
unity of the nation founded by the oi'iginal of that gi-and monument — 
[the statue of Washington was immediately in front of the stand] — the 
Keystone sends greeting to the Empire State. [Applause.] And this after 
two years of war — two years of war ! We of Pennsylvania have tears for 
the dead, sympathy for the mangled and bereaved, but this is for our 
individual hearts, our private circles ; for our country we have but pride 
and devotion. [Cheering, " Good, good."] Two years of war, in which 
the Ruler of Proviclence has more clearly than ever before in history de- 
monstrated how from seeming evilHe is still educing good, how witliin His 
purposes it is to make the folly and wTath of man to praise Him. [Cheers.] 
Tw^o years in which the American people have made more of glorious his- 
toiy than ever was made before in the same brief period. O, my country- 
men, look back over that little period of two years, and remember our con- 
dition when in the first wild outburst of wounded and indignant patriotism 
you gathered to this square. Your country was bankrupt ; it could not 
borrow at one cent a month the little sum of i§5, 000,000 ; your navy 
lay in Southern yards in ordinary, upon the distant coast of Africa, or in 
the far Pacific ; your army was on the frontiers of Texas, in New^ Mexico, 
in the far Territory of Washington, .everywhere but where your govern- 
ment could command it ; your arsenals had been treacherously emptied 
alike of arms, ammunition, and accoutrements ; an enemy, to whom had 
been transferred your navy and your military resources, had fired upon 
your flag and threatened to unfurl from the dome of your Capitol a foreign 
banner, but the heart of America did not tremble, and two years of war 
have not chilled or bated your patriotism. [Cheers, " No, no."] We are 
here to-day to say that no star must be stricken from our flag — [" Never"] ; 
no acre of our country surrendered, if to prevent it takes from our coflfers 
the last dollar and from our hearth-sides the last able-bodied boy. [Cheers, 
" Hurrah."] These are the sentiments of Pennsylvania, and I am glad you 
respond to them with such fervor. We behold all the possible conse- 
quences of the war ; in these two years we have created a navy ; w^e have 
organized, armed, and equipped an army such as the eye of God never be- 
held before upon this planet; and we have conquered well-nigh 400,000 
square miles of territory. [" Good, good !"] We have not borrowed of 
England or the Continent one picayune toward bearing the expense. [Ap- 
plause.] O, my friends, this is a proud day. We had demonstrated be- 
fore rebel hands desecrated our flag, the beneficence of republican in- 
stitutions. In eighty short years we had conquered the breadth of 
a continent. Yes, our flag floated on yon Eastern promontories in 



30 

the broad blaze of the noon-day sun, while on our golden sands the 
morning dawn just tipped its stars, and all was ours, and civilization 
was blooming over all. We had demonstiated the Ciipacity of man 
for self-govennncnt and of popular institutions, raising the poor emi- 
grant and his children to the full stature of manhood and to all the powers 
and rights of citizensiiip, nay, to the capacity not only to enjoy, but to ex- 
ercise them all. [Cheers.] The potentates of Europe had seen the pe^is- 
ant and the laborer, under our benign institutions, expand into the citi- 
zen and tlie capitalist ; they had seen from the humblest walks of life the 
man of honor, wealth, and distinction, spring. Eighty years had sei*ved to 
demonstrate this. But, their sneer was — a good government for peace, 
but no government for war. Is it not a government for war ? When 
Congress passed what the copperheads call the conscription bill, and thus 
served noticre upon France and England that every man who had not de- 
pending upon him, and him alone, aged j)arents or tender diildren, should 
be called to the held, they concluded that all Europe in alliance would not 
do to meet the American people under that government which was not 
good for war. [Cheei's.] 80 good is it for war that, while we go on to 
conquer those who are armed with our weapons, we hold the envious 
aristocracy of Europe in check, and dare them to do their woi^st [cheersj, 
yes, dare them so defiantly, that 1 refer you to the New York papers of to- 
day for the revised opinion of Lord John Kussell, as expressed in the 
House of Lords. [Cheers. " Give it to him !" " Bully !'] Bully for 
the American people. [Cheers.] Bully for those institutions that open 
the school-house to every child however poor it may be, and give a just 
return fur all the labor that it or its parents perform. What is this war? 
What is it about? Between whom is it, men of New York ? ['"Three 
cheers for Kelley."] No, do not cheer so insignificant a being ; keep quiet, 
and hear him. Is it between political parties ? No ; here on this stand 
are men of all parties. I do not know what party I belong to 1 was 
fool or sinner enough to hasten home in 1852 to vote for Frank I'ieree, 
but since 1854 I have been lighting for i'reedona and civilization in the 
ranks of the Kepublican party. [Cheers; "Good."] No, my friends, 
it is not between political parties ; nor is it between contending states. 
The line between jnwailing loyalty and treason seems to divide states, 
but take the exceptions. East Tennessee and West Virginia are loyal as 
New York or Pennsylvania, [" Good, good,"] though one of them lies 
south of Kentucky, and the other has been held by Eiistcrn A'irginia, as 
liussia hohls Poland, or as England has held Ireland [Clieers.J Yes, 
tliey are loyal. It is a war between two orders oi' civilization — the order 
of civilization which we enjoy, which opens a school-house to every child 
coming into tiic commonwealth by birth or emigration ; which givis to the 
son ol the jiouresi laborer, whether of native or foreign birth, the masiery 
of tlie English language, the art of writing and some knowledge of figures, 
and so enables liim to go fbitli and arm himself with knowletlge, and wis- 
dom, and power lo conleml with the world and secure a lair day's wages 
for a fair day's woik whether in hund>le or exalted sj)!^'^. The oilier 
order of civdizution is one which holds that capital should own its labor; 
tliat laboring men and women shouM bo held for side and purchase like 
cuttle in the stall or upon the ehambles. Antl, my friends, do not let us 
blink the (piestion. 'i'lie taking of Fort Sumter, the taking of Vieksburg, 



31 

will not settle the war. One or the other of these orders of civilization 
must be victoriously triumphant over the whole land before you can have 
peace. [Cheers. " That's the talk."] You have heard from Secretary 
Chase. Like him, I am for letting the negro in. I do not think he is a 
bit better than I or you, and I do not see why he should, not do picket duty 
in the swamps as well as my son or yours. I do not see why he should 
not work for us as ably as he has for our common enemy, and I am for 
letting him in, and letting him under the stars and stripes win his way to 
freedom by proving on the bloody field the power of his manhood. 
[''Bravo." Applause.] This we have to do. This we will do. And 
having sunk the traitors, from Fernando up or down — whichever it may 
be, to JefF Davis — [laughter and applause] — deeper than ever plummet 
sounded — we will have so squelched treason that our children and our 
children's children to the latest generation will never fesu: another civil 
war. We will have peace then if it suits our pleasure, with England and 
with France, and we will have demonstrated to the world the power as 
well as (he beneficence of republican institutions. Yes, when this war 
closes will we not have shown the world that that Constitution framed 
under his [pointing to the statue of Washington] wise auspices is not only 
beneficent over a young and peaceful people, but is a fit canopy for a con- 
tinent ? [Loud and prolonged applause, and three cheers for Kelley.] 

Mayor Opdyke : Gentlemen, we have on the stand one of the heroic 
defenders of Fort Sumter when it was a citadel of the Union. He was 
then a subordinate in the United States army. He is now a brigadier- 
general in the service of the United States. I ask leave to introduce to 
you Brigadier-General Crawford of the Pennsylvania volunteers. 

Brigadier-Gen. Crawford was introduced and received three cheers. 
Three more were given for the mayor. 

Mayor Opdyde : You have been pleased with the eloquence of our sis- 
ter city of Philadelphia. I am happy to say that it is not yet exhausted. 
We have another gentleman from that state present, a gentleman who 
left the democratic party, not in 1852, as did Judge Kelley, but a few 
months ago. He has been a democrat of the strictest sect. He will pre- 
sent to you his views of the contest. I beg leave to introduce Benjamin 
H. Brewster, Esq., a distinguished lawyer of Philadelphia. 
I 

SPEECH OF B. H. BREWSTER, ESQ. 

Feixow-Citizexs : With some misgivings, I have consented to come 
here. It is my wish so to act in all my public demonstrations upon the 
important subject that has called you here, and which agitates the minds 
of all men in America, that I may not blunt the measure of my useful- 
ness by over-action. For I have not come out from my privacy to make 
myself the advocate of a party, or by zealous declamation to urge tlie 
promotion of any one. Nothing but a sense of duty has stimulated me 
to come from the quiet of my study into such vast throngs of anxious and 
excited men. [Cheers.] From my earliest youth I have been cojmected 



82 

with the democratic party — identified with its principle?, and a-sociated 
with its public characters. Fioni its first organization, kinsmen of mine 
have held its highest honors and been its firmest advocates. All tiiis has 
bound me to it with hoops of steel. In the darkest hours of its adversity 
I have never lost my faith in it or in its leaders. 

I have a right to speak for it and to speak to it. When I look round 
and see it commanded l)y runaway whigs, who have spent tlicir time 
in systematic op[)0!^ition to its measures and its men, and hear them lay 
down the law for tlie rank and file, and hear them declan; the rule of faith, 
I am amazed at their audacity and asliamcd of the submissive spirit of 
those they profess to lead and speak for. But more than that, and worse 
than that, 1 hear those men defile the sanctuaries of our political conven- 
tions by teachings that are heterodox, by statements that are untrue, and 
by policies of action that are treasonable, and so I have come here by the 
advice of judicious men to say away from home that which 1 liave 
wilUngly said there, that democrats are not bound by any obligation of 
party allegiance to follow such "blind leaders of the blind." They are 
not to heed tlic teachings of men whose whole political, personal, and social 
natures are, in their vei'y elements;, hostile to their party and antagonistic 
to its principles. Their lives, their associations, and their pruciaimed 
opinions, are all in open war with the democratic party as a parly, and 
with democratic measures as a rule of government. At such a crisis as 
this how dare such men stand up and lay down the law of action for that 
political church, whose catechism they have not yet learned? I say how 
dare they strive to teach treason^ and tell party men that such foul teach- 
ings are the logical results of their political faith. One might suppose that 
they had banded together to betray and caluminatc the party they profess 
to lead. Democrats of New York, I say to you, as I have said to the 
democrats of Pennsylvania, that such men are not of you, and are not 
with you, and should be si)urncd by you. Wlien we had a united and tri- 
unphant party we only knew tliem as our avowed enemies, and now we 
only know them as our corruptors and betrayers. [Applause.] Lt-t us 
not now, with armed men in the field — with our banner .«oilod and trampled 
on, with the principles of our governnu'nt in |)eril and our honor (piestioned 
— let us not follow such men into the gulf of faction, or hope to main- 
tain party by simdering our country. Let us have a country fir<t before 
we have a party ! Let us iiave laws obeyed before we iiavc organizations 
to elect ollicers to administer laws that are despised. [Cheering.] The 
men who broke down the democratic party by .secession from its fold 
now demantl its help and conuifand ol)edience to its laws to secure thom 
success in their open resistance to all public authority, and tliey have 
foiuid those men in the North who are weak enough or base onougli to 
iielp them in their treason. The la.st who should encourage this outrage 
and j)ublic sin are democrats. l?y the ballot were they beaten, and l)y its 
final decrt-e are they bound. Sufiiage and <)bedience to popular will are 
at the very foundation of all true democracy. How, then, can democrats 
stand by men as democrats who are disloyal to tiieir own faith and resist 
the declared will of the people and rofu.sc obedience to the letter and the 
duly appointed ollicers of the law. Those who would act otlierwi>c, those 
who wouhl teach t)lherwise, have no business here. There place is with 
tlie enemy. Their home .should be in the South. [Great applause.] 



33 

I do not complain that men speak out their ideas, but 1 do complain 
that when they speak tliey speak political blasphemy. The freedom of 
speech I would not abridge ; but licentiousness of speech is not freedom. 
Scoffing, reviling, railing, and denouncing, is not freedom ; it is crime — it 
is sin. What produced this war ? Did the states that first reb3lled lose 
their negroes? No, not one. Did those that lost their negroes willingly 
enter into this conflict ? No ! they were dragged into it. The cause of 
this war was that the far-off gulf states could not endure the freedom of 
speech and liberty of the press here, a thousand miles off — up, far up in 
the North. And now we are told that the democrats are to rally and 
overthrow the government, by fair or foul means, to vindicate the liberty 
of speech and the liberty of the press. Remember, gentlemen, we have 
the largest liberty. The government we obey is one of our own choice. 
The officers who strive to execute the laws, under difficulties such as never 
encompassed men in a free government before, are faithful, single-minded, 
honest men, and they merit your support, and it is your duty, freely and 
without grudge, to give it. [Applause.] Setting aside all other considera- 
tions, I am for this war as a duty to ray section — first, to compel obedi- 
ence to law ; second, to reduce a rival and hostile section ; third, to pre- 
vent foreign treaties with a new and feeble power within our territorial 
limits ; fourth, to uphold the honor of our country before the world, and 
to prove the strength of democi'atic institutions to enforce obedience to law 
as absolutely as an imperial Caesar. 

This occasion will not permit many words. This is my testimony, and 
I trust others of my political persuasion twill think with me, and act with 
me, for our country, our whole country, and nothing but our country. 
[Great applause.] And I say to you, that the Northern man who will 
give his sympathy to Southern men who call him a dog and a coward, is 
worse tiian a dog, and deserves to be spit upon. [Great applause.] And 
now, gentlemen, I go for prosecuting this war, nigger or no nigger. I go 
for it for the reasons I have stated ; and if we do not succeed, I go for 
crippling the rebels so that if they come out of the • their devilish in- 
dependence won't be worth a straw. [Great laughter and applause.] 

A patriotic ode on the Defence of Fort Sumter by Major (now General) 
Anderson, was then read, and received with much applause (See 
Appendix.) 

Mayor Opdyke : We have with us here to-day one of our honored 
fellow-citizens, whose patriotism has carried him to the war, a gentleman 
who can use his tongue as well as his sword. I have the pleasure to intro- 
duce to you Col. Stewart L. Woodford. [Loud cheers.] 

SPEECH OF COL. AVOODFORD. 

Col. S. L. Woodford said : Men of New York and brothers of the 
Loyal League ; I call you thus, for though I have not signed your pledge, 
I come to you from that older Loyal League whose muster-roll is read 
where the reveille di-um beats, and whose councils gather where the 

3 



34 

camp-fires burn. [Cheers.] To-day the army and the navy sends you a 
greeting and a God-speed ; and well may they bid you all-hail in your 
great work, for though to those gallant men in the ranks it is hard to 
face the pitiless storm and the more pitiless storm of battle, though it is 
hard to suffer absence from home and loved ones, hard to languish in the 
hospital or fall in the field, it is harder, far harder to know that there is 
something which strikes at them at home, to know that right here, under 
the shadow of the flag, the serpent hisses and rattles and strikes, and yet is 
unpunished. [Great cheers.] God bless you for these voices of your 
thousands gathered in your Loyal Leagues ; God grant that by them you 
may speak silence to the traitor, and bid the copperhead writhe back 
smitten to his own death. [Cheers. "The eagle has him."] Men of New 
York, it is fitting that upon this anniversary day you should be gathered 
thus. Twice twelve months since and treason broke into open war ; and 
then on the shattered ramparts of Fort Sumter, as upon an altar, the na- 
tion took its great oath of loyalty over burning casemates and bursting 
shell. You have come to renew that oath. You have come to speak to 
the rebels in arms and to the waiting nations beyond the .sea, that the great 
metropolis has determined, come what may of peril, of loss, of war, come 
what may, this metropolis stands pledged to pursue this war to the bitter 
end. [Cheers.] You have come to testify that you will bear taxation, it 
need be ; that you will endure conscription, if need be ; that you will face 
foreign war, if that must come — [great applause]; that, God helping you, 
you will hand this land of our fatliers down to our children's chiUbrn, un- 
broken and forever. [Loud cheers.] Upon one thing you may rely, the 
national army is loyal to its very core — [cheer.s] ; despite what intriguing 
politicians may assert, there is no officer nor true .soldier in that army who 
will not sacrifice his dearest leader to the cause of his country — [applause]; 
there is no ofiicer there who does not hold the great cause of the nation to 
be above all hero-worship, and who is not willing to follow the majesty of 
the law, wherever that law may bid him go. [Cheers.] And, genth'raen, 
I think that we want peace full as much as you stay-at-home gentlemen 
who are so afiaid of us. There is a great deal of sympathy among some 
men at the North for the poor fellows who live on hard tack and under 
shelter-tents ; God bless you, we don't want your sympathy. If you love 
us, come down and help us fight — [cheers] — and if yuu have not got the 
nerve to fight, at least have the decency to keep j'our moutii shut. [Loud 
cheers. "Good, good."] One word and I am done. [" tio on, go on."] 
I intend to go in about two days to the army. [Cheei's.] 'J'lio attack which 
has been made upon Fort Suinter may possibly fail ; \alor and courage 
have been stricken down before this; but of one thintr be sure, the day 
shall come, whether it be now or twelve months hence, the day .«hall come 
when the old flag shall wave over Sumter again ; the day shall come when 
this Union shall 1)0 restored, for God made this land for free government, 
and it is not in the power of any rebellion to rcver.se that heavenly decree. 
[Cheers.] And now, thanking you for your kind attention — ["Goon, go 
on"] — I do not think that I could talk any more to-ni;:ht unle-ss you were 
willing to fill up my ngiment for mt^ [Lsiugliter. "How many are you 
short?"] We want about two hundred and fifty. [" I will go lor one." 
L(ni(l cheers.] 



35 

Mayor Opdyke : I have now the pleasure of introducing H. N. Wild, 
Esq. [Three cheers for H. N. Wild.] 

SPEECH OF HORATIO N. WILD. 

Horatio N. Wild, Esq., said : Mr. Chairman, for the first time since 
you have been chief magistrate of the city I take you by the hand, and 
greet you as one of the friends of the Union. [Cheers.] Fellow-citizens, 
I have and so have you, listened to statesmen, the judiciary, and the mil- 
itary ; all that language could say or words convey, has been said. I 
wish now that I had the voice of Demosthenes in which to speak to you, 
or the eloquence of Clay or Webster or the great men who have gone 
before us, to convey to you to-day a living idea of the true condition of 
your country, and to clear up your minds from all doubts as to what your 
duty may be. Two years ago, a few rods from here, stood a gray-haired 
gi'eat man, Senator Baker from California. [Prolonged cheering.] I 
never shall forget the power of that man's presence or his words, as long 
as I live. I remember in his closing remarks he said this : " If I 
should ftiil, if I should fall upon the battle-field, let my countrymen drop 
one tear for my memory, for I go for the right." [Loud cheering.] Yes, 
nor the right, and since that day, two years ago, the startling events which 
have taken place in our Republic, have caused the world to stop and 
consider the condition of this great Republic. Oh ! that we should be 
surrounded to-day by mothers clad in mfurning, and old men sorrowing 
for their sons, that have fallen in the sacred cause of the Union ! Oh! 
that you could see them here, the fathers, mothers, and brothers of 200,000 
men that are now beneath the green sod ! And I say now if there is one 
tribute of respect that we owe to their memory, it is to stand by that 
which they fought for, and not to let the green laurel of memory and revenge 
fade into the sere and yellow leaf in two short years. Who is there here 
in this vast assemblage to-day, who will not say that they went forth to do 
battle for a holy cause? [The artillery firing its closing salute interrupted 
the orator.] Let it echo ; and as some people have asked why is the 
American flag floating from our lofty edifices to-day ? I answer : it is be- 
cause the rebels have not taken one single state from us, and we have sur- 
rounded them with a wall of fire which they can never penetrate. It is 
for this that we have a right to see the flag out. [Applause.] The line is 
drawn, it is completely drawn, gentlemen ; it is this : either the Union or 
slavery must perish. Then I say, let slavery die and the Union live. 
[Loud cheers.] So says every true man. I am a man of the masses. I 
come from the shop ; I manufacture, in common with many a one who 
has come to this meeting. This is the hour when the mechanics and work- 
ingmen who are to fight our battles leave their labor. To them I say : 
accursed be the voice, palsied be the hand, that would interfere with the 
efforts of any man, or deny any man's right to contribute to the success of 
the nation in this struggle. I care not for parties ; I care not for the man 
that has got "nigger" on the brain ; I want to go for the man who has 
got Union on his brain. Let us fight for the common cause, and if the 
nigger is a part of it, for him ; but for the Union intact and forever. 
[Loud applause.] Mr. Chairman, I may have fatigued you, but I think 



36 



the crowd have made up their minds to stand by the Union, one and in- 
separable, now and forever. [Prolonged applause ] 

Mayor Opdyke : Thanking you for your patient attention, as we are 
through with our speakers, I new propose tliree rousing cheers for the 
Union, after which the band will give the " Stai' Spangled Banner," and 
we will adjourn. 

With many cheers, and the inspk'iting strains of that magnificent music 
which is identified with the glory of the nation, this portion of the vast mul- 
titude separated. 



OFFICETIS. 



STAND No. 2. 

Under charge of Committee of Arrangements, 

JAMES A. KOOSEVELT, GEORGE CABOT WARD. 
ISAAC H. BAILEY, WILLIAM E. DODGE, Jr. 

President. 

ROBERT B. MINTLTRN. 



Vice-Presidents. 



John jS.. Stevens, 
Moses Taylor, 
A. T. Stewart, 
James T. Brady, 
Peter Cooper, 
James Lenox, 
Lorenzo Sherwood, 
Cambridge Livingston, 
E. Caylus, 
A. Michelbacher, 
William M. Evarts, 
Benjamin F. Butler, 
A. Thorp, 

David S. Coddington, 
William Wadsworth, 
M. S. Dunham, 
Samnel R. Betts, 
David Miller, 
Otis D. Swan, 
James H. Welch, 
W. Ashton, 
George T. Hope, 
Benjamin Floyd, 
Robert Ray, 
James G. Watson, 
J. P. Morgan, 
W. V. Brady, 
Isaac Dayton, 
S. H. Gay, 



James W. Newton, 
Carl Schulk, 
Jolin F. Trow, 
Horace Greeley, 
Josepli W. Alsop, 
Benjamin D. Silliman, 
William Barton, 
Clarkson N. Potter, 
John W. Avery, 
Henry B. Hyde, 
Cyrus W. Field, 
AVickham Hoffman, 
William Radde, 
Charles W. Sandford, 
William H. Wickham, 
Henry Bruggman, 
.George A. Bobbins, 
Mark Hoyt, 
Valentine Mott, 
Oliver S. Stagg, 
James W. White, 
Jeremiah Burns, 
Dexter A. Hawkins, 
Henry Clausen, 
James C. Holden, 
Alexander H. Leonard, 
Frederick Olmstead, 
P. II. Holt, 
George B. Butler, 



C. R. Robert, 
J. P. Wallace, 
Merritt Trimble, 
Israel Corse, 
Lorillard Spencer, 
Stephen Philbin, 
George W. Jlrown, 
Charles Burkhalter, 
N. Worrall, 
William B. Shipman, 
James 31. Cross, 
Willard Harvey, 
A, Menzesheiraer, 
Paul Spofibrd, 
George C. Wood, 
Alexander Proudfoot, 
A. Fred. Sueltzer, 
John A. Foersch, 



88 

Anthony S. Hope, 
Jacob Hayes, 
Robert J. Livingston, 
Murray Hoffman, 
Gustav. Kutter, 
Isaac Sherman, 
Harvey H. Woods, 
Elijah Fisher, 
William Hague, 
Robert G. Remsen, 
Henry Hill, 
John B. Dingledein, 
Thaddeus B. \\ akeman, 
Theodore Polhemus, jr. 
John Bailey, 
Morris Ketcham, 
R. Von Der Ileydt. 



Secretaries, 



Veranus Morse, 
William S. Chamberlain, 
George Bruce, jr., 
Charles p]. Stevens, 
Richard Valiant, 
Edward B. Morris, 
Charles C. Nott, 
William Bond, 
John n. White, 
Clinton Rice, 
Samuel Curtis, 



Edward A. Mann, 
Cephas Brainerd, 
William W. Hague, 
Stuyvesant Le Roy, 
Charles E. Wilbour, 
James Lenox Kennedy, 
T. G. Sherman, 
George B. Waldron, 
J, Howard, 
Elliott F. Shepard, 
William D. Jones. 



PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 



STAND No. 2. 

SOUTHWEST CORNER OP UNION SQUARE. 

Salutes of Artillery by the workmen employed hy Henry Breivster ^ Co. 

1. Grand March from " Le Prophete," of Meyerbeer, by Dod worth's Grand 

Band. 

2. Robert B. Minturn, Esq., of the Council of the Loyal National League, will 

call the meeting to order. 

3. Prayer by Rev. J. T. Duryea. , 

4. James A. Roosevelt, of the Executive Committee, will read the call for 

the meeting, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. Isaac H. Bailey will read the address adopted by the Council and Executive 

Committees on Lectures and Addresses. 

6. George Cabot Ward will read the resolutions. 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Gov. 0. P. Morton of Indiana will address the meeting. 

9. Music — singing : " The Army Hymn." By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 
10. Gen. A. J. Hamilton will address the meeting. 

IL Music — singing : " The Star-Spangled Banner." 

12. Mr. Scoville, delegate from New Jersey, will address the meeting. 

13. Music — singing: "Song for the Loyal National League." Written ex- 

pressly for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

14. Rev. J. T. Duryea will address the meeting. 

15. Jas. A. Roosevelt will read a poem, entitled, " Those Seventy Men.'' 

Written expressly for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

16. Music — singing : " Our Union." Written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street. 



40 



This stand was erected on the southwest side of the Park, and was 
decorated with banners bearing appropriate inscriptions. 

At about half-past four o'clock, after salutes of artillery and martial 
music, the meeting was called to order by R. B. Minturn, Esq., and prayer 
was offered by the Rev. J. T. Duryea. 

Mr. James A. Roosevelt read the call for the meeting, and the list of 
Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

Mr. Isaac H. Bailey was called upon to read the Address, but would 
not detain the meeting by reading it, on account of its length, saying that it 
was in accordance with the spirit which had called this meeting together ; 
that it would be published by the press, and that the time would be fully 
occupied by able and interesting speakers. 

The resolutions were read by John Jay, and were adopted by accla- 
mation. 

The Chairman introduced to the meeting Robert Cujlmixgs, 14 years 
of age, cai)in-boy on board the Harriet Lane, and one of tiie few survivors 
of her la.st engagement. He was greeted with loud applause, and mod- 
estly bowing, retired. 

Governor Morton, of Lidiana, was introduced by the President, and 
said : 

SPEECH of gov. O. T. MORTON, OF rSDIANA. 

Mr. President and Fellow-Citizens : As you have learned by the 
call, this meeting is assembled for the purpose of connneniorating the 
attack upon Fort Sumter. Tlio inquiry may present ilself to your minds, 
For what are we commemorating tlie attack upon Fort Sumter? Betbre 
that time the American people had been paralyzed by divisiims into 
parties. The organization througliout the Southern states of a powerful 
rebel army ; the seizure of forts, dockyards, arsenals, mints, ships-ot-war, 
and every s|)ecies of public property, had proved unavailing to arouse the 
nation, whicii was, like a man witii a dreadful nightmare, .-tiiig;iling to 
awake, but yet unable to do so. But when the echo of tlie lirst gun was 
lieard in the night, coming like an earthquake, the nation arose Ironi its 
bed, and every man rushed into the open air to inquire wliat was the cau.se 
of t he alarm, ready to go to the rescue if necessary. Tlie tiring upon 
Fort Sumter was an evil hour for the rebellion ; for it had the etH'cl, for 
the time, to clo.se up the ranks among the people, to hial up tlu' dis.'sen- 
sions, and to bring us together as with a mighty ct)nq)res.sit)n. 'J'lie atiack 
upon Fort Siiriiti-r had its etfect to unite tlie American people. May its 
Hpeedy reca]iiiire and restoration again draw us togetlier by tlie strong 
lumds of patriotic fmlernily. [Applause.] Time pa.^sed on, and the pa- 
Irioti.'-m and .'•clf-.'^ai'nlicing devotion of many of our people, stimulated by 
the great Union meetings alter the fall of Sumltr, wore out ; and tho 
dem agogiies who had In-en driven into their kennels by the universal out- 
burst of patiioli-m, i-ame forth and began to do the devilish work of 
attempting to produce divi.><ions at the North, to as to paral)ze the arm of 



41 

the government. I believe that we shall come together again. I believe 
that the work of the demagogues will be short-lived. I believe th;it the 
good sense and the ardent atf ^-tion which must still be found in the hearts 
of an overwhelming mnjjrlty of our people, will again rally us all around the 
standard of our country, and uphold it until it shall be borne in triumph 
to final victory. We are engaged in a war the most terrible in history — a 
civil war. The first question which I shall ask to-day, and it may seem 
somewhat elementary to you, for your minds are doubtless made up upon 
the subject, is this : What brought this war upon the country ? Avho are 
its authors'? My excuse for asking this question and answering it, is 
based upon the fact that there are men in the city of New York, and all 
over the loyal North, who are attempting to persuade the people that 
this war was made by Mr. Lincoln's administration ; that it is an aboUtion 
war, gotten up for the purpose of effecting the emancipation of the slaves, 
and to promote negro equality. The foundations of the Rebellion were 
laid more than thirty years ago. The first development of it was in the 
nullification movement of South Carolina upon the pretence of a tariff 
which they declared to be unconstitutional and oppressive. That Rebel- 
lion was promptly suppressed by the iron will and strong hand of Gen. 
Jackson. And the prediction was then made by Gen. Jackson himself, 
that the next development would be upon the pretence of the slavery question. 
From that time until the breaking out of this rebellion, preparations were 
constantly made. Men of the Calhoun school of politics, at first almost 
wholly confined to the state of South Carolina, but afterward spreading 
through most of the Southern states, and afterward extending the poison 
even into the Northern states, were laboiing to lay the foundations for the 
great rebellion with which we are now struggling. They were willing to 
postpone the revolt so long as they could control the government through 
the instrumentaUty of party. But when, shortly after tho administration 
of President Buchanan commenced, it became apparent that the South 
could not longer control the government as before, preparations were sys- 
tematically and industriously made throughout that entire administration to 
bring the rebellion on. It was the business of Mr. Floyd, from the very first, 
so to dispose of all the arms and munitions of war, that when the hour 
came the rebels could place their hands upon them ; and we know they 
did, the greater portion of them. Mr. Toucey, the Secretary of the Navy, 
allowed the navy to become dilapidated and dismantled ; and when the hour 
for action came, it was dispersed upon all the oceans, and was of no value to 
us. It was tlie business of Mr. Cobb, the Secretary of the Treasury, to 
impoverish the treasury of the Union, and to bring dishonor upon its 
credit. I have been informed since I have been in this city, of a fact which 
I believe is not generally known. Mr. Cobb deliberately made arrange- 
ments to allow the interest on the public debt to go unpaid, so that the 
coupons should be protested for non-payment, in order to affect our credit 
abroad ; and this dishonor to the national credit was only avoided by some 
banks of the city of New York coming forward and voluntarily paying 
the interest upon the national debt to j^reserve the national credit. [Ap- 
plause ] Immediately after the election of Mr. Lincoln, South Caro- 
lina made her arrangements to go out of the Union. She was followed by 
one state after another, until eight or nine had gone through the forms of 
secession, before Mr. Lincoln's inauguration. At the time of his inaugu- 



42 

ration the rebels had an army of more than 30,000 men in the field, 
trained, armed, and ready for battle. Up to that time we had done noth- 
ing. Mr. Buchanan had proclaimed to the world that the government 
had no power for self-preservation. He had declared that the government 
could not take a single military step to preserve its life from the robbers 
that had takeu it by the throat. Tiieir arrangements had been made under 
his eye, throughout his entire admini.-^tration ; and we can only exonerate 
him from the charge of a knowledge of the plans of the rebels, and com- 
plicity with them, by making the most liberal concessions in favor of his 
imbecility. [Laughter.] Our Utile army of 15,000 men had been scat- 
tered to the four winds. There were not two hundred men together in any 
one place, except the army of General Twiggs in Texas, which was most dis- 
gracefully surrendered, as you know it was intended it should be, when it 
was placed there. Preparations were made for the reduction of Fort 
Sumter. They had been going on for many weeks. They were made 
deliberately, openly, under the guns of that fortress. Those guns 
remained silent ; and after all the land batteries and floating batteries had 
been prep ared, and the hour was ripe, then the fire was opened upon Sum- 
ter, and oin- glorious flag was hauled down, and our gallant garrison was 
compelled to surrender to the enemy ; and thus the war was begun. Need 
I ask you the question, then, who made the war? It was made by the 
rebels ; it was made by the South. Our government is standing on the 
defensive. It is defending its life ; it is defending itself again.^-t the dis- 
memberment of its territoiy ; it is struggling and lighting to prevent the 
dissolution of the Union. It is not a war which the government has made, 
but a war forced upon the government — a war which the government could 
not refuse to ace pt. The next question, then, for our consideration is, for 
what purpose did the South m:dve this war? For what purpose was this 
rebellion brought upon the country, with all its train of disasters? What 
object had they in view ? "What had they to gain by it ? One party to 
this war contends that there is no such thing as an American people, an 
American nation ; that we are but an aggregation of some thirty-lour petty 
nationalities, united together in a parinership of interest and convenience, 
from which any one is at liberty to withdraw at plensure. Tiie other party 
to this war, to which I trust we all belong, contiiids that there is such a 
thing as an American people, that there is a national unity. [Applause.] 
That while we are di\ided into states for local and domestic government, 
while the states are divided into counties, each having a government of it,s 
own, and wdiilc the counties are again divided into townships, each 
having a township government of its own, yet the township belongs 
to the county, the county to the state, and the state to one mighty in- 
dis.«olubIe nation. [Applause.] Tiie question recur.s, Why did the South 
make this war, and seek to destroy this government { You will be told, 
perhaps, by .•■uch a man as Fernando Wood [groans] — I beg your pardon 
for alluding to a subject which s ceins to be so repulsive to your feelings — 
but we ari! told by many men, N orth and South, that the war was forced 
u[ton tiie South to protect their r ights under the Constitution ; that it wjia 
the intention of J\lr. Lincoln's ad ministration to aggress upon tliose rights, 
and to secure thosi-, constitutio nal rights she coniincjiced the war to de- 
stroy the C'onstitiilion it.-^elf. T he fnsL ollicial declaration which the rebel 
ovcrnment ever made to the courts of Europe, given by their lirst am- 



43 

bassador to Lord John Russell, was the statement that the war was not 
made by the South for any such purpose ; that the South did not fear that 
the administration of Mr. Lincoln would trample upon their constitutional 
rights. I need then give no further answer to this pretence upon the part 
of Northern sympathizers. Then what was the war made for by them ? 
It was to establish a government in which the institution of slavery should 
not be simply recognized or tolerated, but should be the great, paramount, 
controlling interest, in which the slaveholding aristocracy should be the 
dominant or the governing class. The war was made for the purpose of 
overturning and uprooting the democratic principle and establishing the 
aristocratic principle. Mr. Stephens, the Vice-President of the Confederacy, 
who has given us the only commentary upon their new constitution, de- 
clares, in his speech at Milledgeville, that the South, for the first time in 
the history of the world, had established a government whose chief corner- 
stone was the institution of slavery. It was a matter of boasting that 
this had occurred for the first time in the history of civilization. [A voice, 
"For the last time, too."] It was brought forth as all evidence of re- 
markable progress. He boasted that they had overturned the principles 
upon which this government had been founded ; that they had established 
a government upon principles directly the reverse of those which were set 
forth in the Declaration of Independence, and upon which this government 
was established. The great question present in all our minds, and one 
which we are all trying to answer to ourselves, is the great question, 
How shall we procure peace"? How shall this war be ended? It is said 
that there are three ways in which peace can be attained. The first is by 
conceding the independence of the rebel states, conceding the dissolution of 
the Union, conceding the dismemberment of our territory. [Voices, 
" Never."] The second is by procuring an armistice, then calling a Na- 
tional Convention, having the rebel states represented in that convention, 
and then propose to amend the Constitution, to make it satisfactory to the 
rebels, an 1 reconstruct the Union by turning out the six New England 
states. [" Never."] The third is by suppressing the rebellion and con- 
quering a peace. [Applause, and cries of "That's the way."] Let me 
consider very briefly the merits of these diiferent modes of obtaining peace. 
1. If you obtain peace by conceding the independence of the rebel states, 
then you must make up your minds to give up Kentucky, Missouri, Mary- 
land, and Delaware. ["Never."] We have been told by the rebels, 
first and last, that they never would consent to a peace, ex(-ept upon terms 
giving to them all the slave states represented in the rebel Congress. Each 
of these states has members in that body ; and each is represented by a 
star upon the rebel flag. If you would, therefore, obtain peace by aban- 
doning this war, and conceding their independence, you must make up 
your minds to give them those four states, If you do that, you must also 
give them up your national capitol, which is between Maryland and Vir- 
ginia, both of which would go with the South. That is the first conse- 
quence. I do not say it would be the worst, by any means, for we could 
build a new capitol upon better ground, and, I believe, in a better neigh- 
borhood. [Laughter.] The next consequence to flow from peace upon 
those terms, is the surrender of the mouth of the Mississippi river, and 
the control of that stream, thus making the Northwestern States tribu- 
tary to the rebel confederacy. The next consequence, flowing, directly 



44 

from that, would be to raise up in all the Northwestern state?, a power 
ful party in favor of immediate annexation to the Southern Confederacy. 
They would feel at once that the Northwestern states, lying in the Mis- 
sissijipi valley and upon the Ohio, are bound geographically, commercially, 
and socially, with the people of the South and Southwest ; and they 
would never consent to be separated from that political community that 
controls the mouth of the Mississippi river. This party would be power- 
ful fi'om the first. It could not at once carry this measure of annexation 
to the Southern Confederacy, and would then resort to a claim for a North- 
western Confederacy, which would be but a preparatory and incipient 
measure ; because after we shall have cut ourselves loose from the Atlantic 
states, we must have an outlet, and we should be driven to throw our- 
selves into the arms of the Southern Confederacy to enable us to get out 
through the Gulf of Mexico. Another consequence to flow from peace 
upon these terms, would be the immediate establishment of a l*acitic Ke- 
public. California, Oregon, the territory of Wa.sliington and all those 
territories separated from the Atlantic stales by the range of the Kocky 
Mountains, would at once set up for themselves, and with a much better 
show of reason than any other portion of the Kepublic. They are upon 
the l^acific slope. Their commerce is upon the Pacific ocean. Their 
commerce is separated from oure by the Kocky Mountains. And they 
would at once separate from us and set up a great l'a<'itic liipiibiic. No 
sensible man can believe that if the work of secession and disintegration 
shall be consummated by the establishment of the independence of the 
present rebel states, it will stop there. No, it will go on until our coun- 
try, once powerful, prosperous and glorious, will have become an utter 
wreck and ruin. 

2. Let me now consider briefly this second mode of obtaining power, 
by procuring an armistice, calling a national convention, an)en'ling the 
Conr-titution, so as to make it (satisfactory to the rebels, and reconstruct- 
ing the Union by turning out the six New Enghnid states. We know very 
well that the rebels will not come back with all the free states in the Union. 
It would stiU be in the minority in the government, a.s they are thv' minority 
in the populations. To remove this dilliculty, it is proposed to turn New 
England out, so as to get South Carolina and the other Southern states 
in. We would then live in a confederacy of twenty-eight states, of wliich 
fifteen would be slave states and thirteen would be free states. That 
wouM give the South a permanent nuijority in the Senate of the United 
States ; for they would take care never again to admit another free state 
into tlie Union. What, then, would be our condition ? What is the con- 
dition of Ireland to Enghuid, of I'oland to Kussia, of Hungary to Austria? 
Such would be our condition were we to consent to a new confederacy 
constructed upon these principles. Why is New I'higland to be turned out '. 
"Wliat is her oflence (or whicli she is to be expelled trouj the Uniun ? It 
is that sIk; has loved liberty too well, and slavery too little. [Ap[)lause.] 
To New England, more than to all other parts of the country together, do 
we owe this revolutionary war, and all tlie niiglity train of con.-etiuences 
th:it Lave li)llowe<l it, sr) impoitant to ourn-lves and to the world. The 
Jiivolution had its origin in New England; and New luii^land gave more 
soldiers than all the other stales together, for the purpose of carrying it 
On to a successful issue. Miu^yichusolls gave over 75,OUU men, while South 



4S 

Carolina gave a few hundred over 5,000. Yet the proposition is made to 
kick Massacliusetts out, to coax South Carolina to come in. We are to 
turn out lov.il states in order to induce this viper to return to nestle in our 
bosom. We will bring the viper back ; but it will not be until after its 
fangs are extracted. This scheme is too dishonorable to be pursued ; and 
yet this scheme is older than the war. It has its advocates in your city, 
and in all the Northern states. I dismiss it as a subject too repugnant to 
our feelings to be longer presented to you. 

3. I come, then, to the last method of obtaining peace — by suppressing 
the rebellion and conquering a peace, [Applause.] In the first place, 
allow me to consider very briefly the progress of the war. What progress 
havewemide? I know we are an impatient people. We want great 
things acccmoplished in a very short period. We have failed properly to 
consider the magnitude of the rebellion and the difficulties of tlie under- 
taking. When we shall have looked over the ground, we shall find that 
our progress, after all, has been highly satisfactory, and such as to give us 
the most confident hopes of success in the future. We have secured Ken- 
tucky ; we have secured Missouri ; we have a great part of Arkansas ; we 
have a great part of Louisiana ; we have Maryland ; we have Delaware ; 
Ve have a considerable part of old Virginia ; a considerable part of North 
Carolina, and a large part of Tennessee. We have at this time more than 
half the rebel territory and more than a third of all its population. Tlie 
right to grumble is one of our prerogatives. We are a grumbling people. 
We grumble at the President. I have . no doubt that the President has 
committed faults. He has been placed in a more trying and difficult posi- 
tion than any Executive the nation ever had. The position of Gen. Wash- 
ington was never more difficult or more important than that of Abraham 
Lincoln. If the President had not erred, under all these trying circum- 
stances, it would have been more than human. You who are familiar with 
the histoiy of our Revolution remember what bitter opposition was waged 
against Gen. Washington, almost throughout the war. You remember 
the complaints they made of want of success — complaints of his tardiness — 
and how, from time to time, the hearts of the people sank within them. 
But still they held on, and victory finally crowned our arms and blessed 
our cause. There was still a confidence that took fast hold of the hearts 
of the people at the time, of the integrity, the purity, the sound judgment 
of Gen. Washington. And I tell you to-day that the great overshadow- 
ing element in the character of Abraham Lincoln is his unimpeachable 
integrity. [Applause.] It is the confidence that this nation has that he 
is an honest man, that he loves his country, and that whatever he does he 
intends for the welfare of the country ; that if he errs it is the error of the 
head and not of the heart ; and I congratulate the nation that in this great 
hour of trial we have for our President so honest and upright a man as 
Abraham Lincoln. [Applause.] 

They complain of the Secretary of War. It is said that he is not doing 
his part well, and that many of the misfortunes of the war are to be attrib- 
uted to him. I doubt not he, too, has committed errors; but I have 
watched his coui'se narrowly ; I have had much to do with him in the ad- 
ministration of military affairs in Indiana, and I take great pleasure in bear- 
ing testimony to his great abilities, and to his untiring devotion to the cause 
in which he is engaged. I tell you there is nothing half-hearted about Edwin 



Stanton. His whole heart is in the work, and he is devoting himself to it 
nijilit and day. I believe history will yet record his name upon one of" its 
brightest and best pages. I may speak, too, with propriety, of Secretary 
Chase. He received the trea.sury, as it came from the hands of Cobb, 
wrthout a single grain in it. [Laughter.] It had been impoverished by 
him purposely to paralyze the power of the government to resist tl;e rebil- 
lion. That was a part of the scheme — a part of the ])olicy which character- 
ized the whole administration of Buchanan. Mr. Cliase has resurrected the 
credit of the nation ; and this fabric of the national credit never stood so 
high as at the present time. It is our boast that we have carried on the 
war to this time without being compcUed to call upon Europe to furnish a 
single dollar, as has been correctly stated in one of the resolutions you have 
just adopted ; and the prospect is that we shall carry on the war to the 
end, and crush out the rebellion, without calling upon Europe to lend us a 
siitgle dollar for that purpose. The plan of obtaining peace that I am in 
favor of, is by crushing out the rebellion. How are we to do thatf The 
great instrumentalities to be employed are the army and the navy. They 
are attempting by force and violence to destroy this government, and we 
must meet them by force and violence. We must therefore maintain the 
army and the navy in their efficiency, and keep them in operation. I'o do 
that, the ranks of the army must be recrnited. Those who ai-e not in favor 
of filling up the army, are not in favor of crushing the rebellion, and want 
the rebellion to succeed. Tlie ranks of the army mu.st be recruited ; and 
how shall it be done? You cannot do it by volunteering ; but it must be 
done by the conscription act. It is a matter of necessity that that act 
should be enforced everywhere. Some of you, perhaps, do not like the 
conscrij)tion act. It is an odious thing at the best ; a thing which cannot 
\k' made acceptable to the people. Yet it should be understood that it is 
a necessary evil, and should be accepted as such. If you do not like the 
conscription act, let me ask the question, who arc the men who forced tlie 
conscription upon the nation ? They are the men who have endeavored to 
miike the war odious. They are the men who have produced the state of 
public opinion which has entirely cut olf and suspended all volunteering. 
They are the men who have encouraged desertion from the army. They 
are the men wlio have endeavored to depreciate the national cm-rency, to 
discourage the army, to discourage men from volunteering. Tiiese are the 
men who liave brought the conscription act ujion the country; and I pray 
you to hold them responsible for it. The government would much prefer 
to tlepcnd upon volunteering to the end, as it had in the beginning; but as 
tliat became inipos.'-ible in consequence of the opposition to the war, it l)e- 
(yimc necessary to resort at last to tlie conscription act. Let me here ad- 
vert biidly to what is called the !?ot)() section, ■\^■e are told that is the 
rich man's section ; that it was designed to exonerate the rich man, and to 
embrace the jjoor man. J want to correet that. 1 disajiproved of it, but 
it was for a Nciy dilferent reason from those demagogues who are trying 
to excili' the eoiuitry agiiinst the law. I jjreffrrcd that it should allow 
tlie drafted man to furnish a substitute, but leave to him the cxpen.-e and 
Ihf trouble ol git ting a substitute. l!ut why was the i^'M)0 clause put in? 
It wiLS put in for the beiulil of the poor man In Imiiana we had a little 
(Iruft — a draft of a few lhi>usand min for nine months — and the price of 
substilutcH ran up from $200 to $800 or $"J00 in a very few days after the 



4? 

draft was made. Does it require an argument to show that there is a much 
larger number of poor men in New York who can procure |300, than of 
men who can procure a substitute when they h^ve to pay $800 to $1,000 
for him ? Tliis was the idea which led Congress to insert the $300 clause; 
to protect the poor man from the result which experience had indicated, 
that the price of substitutes would run up even to $1,000, putting- it en- 
tirely oat of the power of a man of moderate means to procure a substitute 
at all. Yet this clause has been perverted and falsely held up before the 
people, to make the government and the war odious. 

Another instrumentality to which the government proposes to resort, in 
certain places, is the raising of negro regiments. We are told that it is de- 
grading to white manhood that the negro should be called upon to fight. We 
employ the agency of horses and mules ; we employ the agency of gun- 
powder, and that Is as black as the negro [laughter] ; we employ the agency 
of steam ; and these things are not considered as degrading to wliite man- 
hood ; but the moment you propose to employ the instrumentality of the 
negro, we are told that it is revolting to the white race. This is done for 
the purpose of appealing to the lowest prejudices of our nature upon the 
subject of color. I am in favor of fighting the rebels and subduing them 
in any way that it can be accomplished. [Applause.] If you can make a 
successful use of bull-dogs and tom-cats, I am in favor of using them too. 
[G-reat laughter.] 

The question of employing negroes iS not a question of right, but merely 
of expediency. If you can make the negro soldiers available, use them ; 
if you cannot, don't use them. It is simply a question of the means of 
suppressing the rebellion, I would like to ask this question of those de- 
novmcing the employment of negro regiments, If by employing negro regi- 
ments to hold the forts in Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, South 
Carolina, and wherever we have forts, we can thereby dispense with a 
draft in the city of New York, would these gentlemen be opposed to it then f 
[Laughter.] If thereby 5,000 or 10,000 men can be left at home in New 
York, who would otherwise be taken from their families and their indus- 
trial pursuits, would these men still oppose it, or would they still insist 
that the men must be drafted — that the negroes may not be employed 1 
Suppose that we draft one of these objectors and make this proposition to 
him, " Now, sir, if you will consent to the employment of negro soldiers 
in your stead, I will discharge you,'' what do you think his answer would 
be"? [Laughter and applause.] The only question, then, is the question 
of expediency. Can they be made useful to us in suppressing the rebel, 
lion? 

Another instrument which the President proposes to employ in the pros- 
ecution of the w^ar, is the proclamation of freedom to the slaves of rebels 
in rebel states. We are told that this is entirely unconstitutional, and we 
must pay very strict regard to the constitutional rights of those men who 
have seceded from the Union and made themselves a new constitution. 
We are to be divided and distracted among ourselves, and take each other 
by the throat, to preserve the constitutional rights of rebels. Is that just? 
I am asked by a gentleman near me, has the rebel any right under the 
Constitution which a white man is bound to respect? [''No," "no!"] 
1'he crowd answers the question for you, sir. The great difficulty is, that 
our people do not draw the distinction between peace and war. They 



48 

seem to think we are to carry on war just like peace. They do not know 
that war has its priviU'gcs, its rights and immunities, just as peace has. 
What gave the I'rcsident t^ie right to send his army across the river at the 
Potomac to oocu|>y the heights of Arlington, to dig up the sacred soil of 
Virginia into iiitrem hmcnts, and to cut down timhcr ? There is not a word 
in tiie Con-^lituiion about that. It is a rigiit tliat springs out of tlie con- 
dition of war. "What gave our army the right, at Gold.-boro', to destroy 
churches and academies, and to con\ert private residences into hospitals 
for the use of the army? There is not a word in the Constitutiim about 
that. The right springs froin the existence of war. They have the right 
to seize horses and piules, to cut down and destroy prowing crops, to cut 
off" the provisions and resources of the rebels, whci'ever they can. The 
Constitution is sihnt about this ; but this right to do all these things springs 
from the existence of war. What gave the President the right to blockade 
the rebel .purts, to shut out the commerce of the world — arms, provi.-ions, 
goods of every (kscription ? The Constitution says not a Avord about that ; 
but the Supreme Court of the United States has recently decided that 
the blockade is constitutional, and that the President had power to declare 
and to eidbrce that blockade. It is only when you come to tlie negro — only 
wlien you come to slave property — tliat the panopl}' and armor of the Con- 
stitution is thrown around him. Now, slaveholding is the great element 
in maintaining the rebellion. It performs all the labor of the camp and 
of the march. And at home it raises the provisions to feed the rebel army 
in the field, and to support the families of the rebels upon their plantations. 
Withdraw slave labor, and three fourths of the rebels would be compelled 
to return home to raise something to live upon and to feed their families. 
The question is, how to destroy the strength of the rebellion? If a 
blockake will assist, we have a right to resort to that ; if destroying their 
growing crops, we have a right to do tliat ; if withdrawing the labor 
wliich provides for the families of the rebels, and furnishes provisions to 
them and to their armies, and which performs all tlie work of tlie field and 
of the camp, we have a perfect light to do that. It simply resolves itself 
into a question of expediency. How shall the rebellion be suppressed? If 
it can be suppressed in this way — if this can be made instrumental, in a small 
degree even, in suppressing the rebellion, it is not only the right of the 
President to resort to it, but it is his solemn duty to do so. His right to 
do so is too clear for aigument. It is an experiment. I believe it will 
succeed. It has already partially succeeded, liut if it does not succeed, 
it doe< not controvert the light. It is an experiuicnt. The attack upon 
Fredericksburg was an experiment. It did not succeed ; but I believe 
that th(^ constitutionality of it was never disputed. [Applause.] The 
attack upon Murfreesboro, by Gen. IJosecrans, was an expi-rimenl, and it 
Bucceedcd ; and I believe nobody is disj)osed to ((uestion the constitution- 
ality of that act. [lii-newed applause.] This is an experiment, and 1 
believe it will succeed — that it will be an important instrument, imt only 
in suppre.-sing the rtbellion, but in elevating the character of the nation. 
[Applau-^e.] But whether it siuill succee«i (»r not, the right to issue that 
pn)clamation, and to enlbrce it, seems to me loo clear for argument. 

We hear a good deal said, in these latter times, alK)ut arbitrary arrests, 
becau.se a man here and there, who has been particularly viruhnl against 
hiH country in time of war, ha»s been taken to Fort Lafayette or person- 



49 

ally confined. [A voice, "They ought to be hung up."] It is some- 
what arbitrary; I shaU not deny that; but in my judgment, the great 
eri'or of the government has been rather in tlie discliarge than in the 
arrest. [Applause.] Not manv arrests have been made. A great deal 
has been said about tlie ft^w that have been made. But for my part, 1 do 
not know of a single man that has been incarcerated who did not deserve 
to be. When we hear men talking about the rights of personal liberty, 
and of the writ of habeas corpus, what have they to say about the rio^hts of 
the hundreds and thousands of Union men languishing, perishing, rotting, 
in Southt;rn dungeons. Are not these men our brethren likewise ? Are 
they not our fellow-citizens ? Have they not personal rights, as dear to 
us as those of the people of the city of New York ? They are our fellow- 
countrymen. If you have tears to shed, I pray you to shed them over 
those men who have been lying in filthy, pestilential dungeons for months 
past, and many of whom have died there, and the country has never known 
the history of their death. While these things are going on from day to 
day — and no one dare deny it— these men have no sympathy for them; but 
their sympatiiies are entirely wasted upon a kw copperheads who may 
have found their way into Fort Lafayette or Fort Warren. 

The last hope of the rebellion is founded, not upon the success of their 
arms, but upon dissensions and divisions among us. Take this home with 
you and think of it. If there are any persons here to-day who are en- 
gaged in fomenting jealousies and discords among our people — who are en- 
gaged in factious opposition to paralyze the arms of the government — I beg 
of them to think of the terrible responsibility which they take upon them- 
selves. Every week they protract this war costs us many a life, from dis- 
ease or from battle. Every week takes millions of treasure, building up 
still higher the mountain load that rests upon the nation. The responsi- 
bility is with them. Read the speeches in their Congress ; read their 
newspapers; converse with rebel prisoners, and you will find that they all 
tell the same story. They believe that the time is coming when there will 
be a party in the North which will rise up and strike down the party of 
the government, and overturn the government itself, when we shall fall 
an easy prey to them. ["Never," "never."] I believe this will never 
occur ; but it is the hope of this which induces them to linger on. They 
are told that we cannot get another army. "Struggle on; endure and 
suffer everything; wait until the present Union army is exhausted, by bat- 
tle or by disease, and then the victory will be yours ; for there never will 
be another loyal army at the North." It is this which induces them^ 
more than all, to struggle on. 

We have everything at stake in this contest ; not only our nation, our 
character at home and abroad, as a people, but the individual prosperity 
and happiness of every man of us is directly involved in this issue. I 
have heard men say, who have lately been in Europe, that the American 
war passes for almost nothing there, the American character has already 
suffered so much ; and if the Union should be destroyed, we should then be- 
come, as we should deserve to be, the laughing-stock of the old monarchies 
of the world. There is one great difference between ourselves and tlie 
rebels. We are absorbed in our daily business. Your streets were never 
more thronged ; your harbor was never more full of ships, and general 
prosperity prevails. We are attending to our business, and the rebels are 

4 



50 

attendinp: exclusively to the war ; and when we shall attend to the wan 
we shall end it most speedily. . 

In conclusion, as you love yonr country ; as you love your families, your 
wives and your children ; as you love yourselves — putting it even upon the 
ground of selfishness — I exhort you to give all that you are, and all that 
you hope to be, to the final suppression of this rebellion. [Applause.] 

The " Star Spangled Banner" was then sung, the audience uniting heart- 
ily in the chorus. 

SPEECH OK GEN. A. J. HAMILTON. 

Gen. A. J. Hamilton, of Texas, was greeted with loud cheering. He 
said : 

• Two years have passed since the hand of treason fired the first gun at 
the national flag. Our country had engaijed in war before it engaged in 
this. Its flag had been fired upon by national enemies, who had been met ■ 
on many fields, at home and abroad ; but it had never been called upon 
to defend that flag against enemies whom it had nurtured, and who ought 
to have been its dearest and surest friends. During these two years, many 
changes have, from time to time, been manifested in the public feeling, in 
the public opinion, judging from the expression given to it through the 
public press, and through those who assume, from time to time, to be the 
exponents of the public sentiment. A.t the moment when the news thrilled 
through the hearts of the people of this great city and this great nation, 
that the flag had been fired upi'u and dishonored, there was but one im- 
pulse, an 1 tiiat was to rush to the rescue. There was but one sentiment 
then expressed, as I am told, in all this land, and that was to puni.sh the 
men who had been guilty of this tretison, and avenge the country upon the 
men who had soujiht to dishonor the flaji of the nation. 

That ilid not continue to be the public feeling; and why? IJecause 
it was the impulse, simply, of the hearts of the people, such iis an inilivid- 
ual might feel upon receiving a personal insult. The public min^l liad not 
then been accustomed to weigh in the balance the magnitude of the inter- 
ests involve 1 in the struggle, nor did they rightly understand the object in 
view updu the part of those who iiad made it necessary for the govern- 
ment to engage in this war. It was ni)t perceived at a glance that the trai- 
tor had not Ijecome maddened under the existence of .some real or fancic<l 
wrong uitim the part of tlie loyal states, but that this was a conspiracy of 
long standing, the oltject of wliicli wiis to overthrow the government; not 
that it had wronged them, but because those engaged in the conspiracy 
preferred a government of another character. It was said by tlie vice- 
president of the 8o-iuilled confederacy, that the object was to e,sfal)lish a 
government upon the ruins of the n:itional government, the corner-stone 
of which hhould be slavery — which was tlie .^tone rejected by the budders 
of this govcrnnuint. The experience of our forefathers having led them 
to form a government without that corner-stone, they had dclcrmined to 
tear down that rdilice, and luiild upon its ruins another, :ind to use that 
rejected slone as the chief of the corni-r. 

Jiut their object was not uudei'Stood, ai.d time rolled on ; anil many. 



51 

supposing that this rebellion was merely the result of a momentary passion 
and ill feeling, which would soon pass away, became tired, and were ready 
to reunite with them once more upon the terms of the Constitution, with 
the addition, it may be, of some additional guarantees, as the phiase was, 
which would give peace and security to the South, against the aggressive 
spirit of the North, upon the institution of slavery. But they tell you 
to-day, that it was not because of any wrong they had suffered at the 
hands of the people of the North, of any kind, and least of all for any 
wrong upon the part of the government in respect to slavery, that they 
severed the bonds that bound them to you. Tliey say, indeed, that they 
did use this argument ; but it was used as a pretext, simply as a means of 
maddening the people of the South, and firing their hearts, in order to be 
able to precipitate them into revolution. Now that the thino- is accom- 
plished, they tear away the veil, and tell you that the great quarrel they 
have with you is, that your society constitutes a democracy — not a copper- 
head democracy, not a democracy which resists every effort the govern- 
ment now makes to preserve its own existence — but using the term in its 
enlarged and proper sense. They say it is because your men are all free, 
and therefore all participate in the government ; and it results that the 
govei'nment is in the hands of laboring men, or, as they express it, in the 
heels of society — whereas, in the South, where they control and direct the 
labor, they say that the government is in the head of society, where it 
ought to be. And because slavery and democracy are natural antagonisms, 
as they must ever be, they determined, following the lead of Mr. Calhoun, 
to hatch the viper, to tear asunder the bonds of this Union, and rear up a 
government of a few over the many, in which the democratic principle 
should be ignored, and which should confer authority and power alone in 
the hands of men who are interested in the institution of slavery. It is 
the old j^truggle of liberty on the one hand, and despotism on the other. 
[Applause. ] 

But it is said that the President has changed the character of the war, so 
far as this government is concerned. I will not reply to the assertion the 
unheard of until. now and the monstrous lie, that this government made the 
war. The man who utters it ought not to be replied to; or, if at all, he 
ought to be replied to with a blow, and not by words. [Applause.] 

I pass that by. The war exists. We all know who made it. But it 
is said the President has changed the character of the war from a war to 
suppress the rebellion to a war to crush out slaveiy. There is only a 
slight mistake in this. The President has not changed the character of 
the war. He is still carrying it on to suppress the rebellion ; but as the 
best means of suppressing the rebellion, thank God, he has at last put his 
heel upon the cause of the rebellion. [Applause.] You say he had not 
the power to do it. I don't know whethtr he had the power to do it or 
not ; I know that he has done it ; and now how are you to help it 1 You 
that don't like it, what are you going to do about it? He is the President 
of the United States, the commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the 
United States ; and the principle is older than the government, a principle 
recognized among all nations, civilized and barbarous, that the commander 
of an army has the right, and will exercise it if he has the power, of tak- 
ing from the public enemy all his resources, and reducing him to starva- 
tion and to abject want, in order that he may be conquered. Where do 



52 



you get the authority for saying that the President of the United States, 
the comuiander-in-cliiof of our army and navy, eng.'iged in the most mo- 
mentous war of modern limes, and lor tlie preservation of his (zoveniment, 
has less power as commander-in-chief tiian the commander-in-chief of the 
army of any other nation ? But if he had wanted any portion of the power 
exercised by him. upon the theory that it was lodged in anotlier depart- 
ment of the government — the war-making and the law-making department 
of the government — that has conferred upon him by solenni act of Congress 
the power to do what he has done. And under his own authority, with 
that of Congress coupled with it, he has said to the rebellious states and 
districts embraced in his prochmialion of January 1st, that slaves held in 
bondage by rebel masters prior to that period, shall fi-om and after that 
date, be forever free men. [Applause.] By virtue of that ]iroclamation, 
every slave in that whole region stands, under the Constitution and the 
laws, this evening, as free as you and I. They may not be in the practi- 
cal enjoyment of their liberty. Many of them we know are not. They 
are still held as slaves, by force ; but as our armies penetrate deeper and 
deeper among them, they will become practically free ; and they will re- 
main free. For while the President had the power to make them free, 
and while it was his duty to do it — while it was the very best policy that 
could have been adopted, and the most fatal blow that secession has yet 
received from any quarter — I thank God that he has not the power, nor 
has Congress the power, nor any department of the government, nor have 
the people of this great government the power, constitutionally, to make 
one of these same manumitted and liberated slaves ever anything less tlian 
a freeman again. [Great applause.] It is irrevocable. It will last as 
one of the proudest monuments in the history of this government, from its 
foundation down to the present time. Ti)e Pre^ident has changed the 
character of the war. Siipio, when the Koman government was in danger 
of being overthrown by the Cartliagenians, and when he was ligiiting for 
the perpetuity of his govennnent, in order to preserve the government of 
the peo|)le and triumj)hantly to end the contest, determined " to carry 
the war into Africa;" and so h;is President Lincoln. [Laughter and ap- 
plause.] Africa made war upon him : and he ha'< made war again>t the 
institution that made war upon the nation. lie is determined not only to 
declare war agair)st it, but to go into its strongholds and fastnesses and 
throttle it in its very bed, to seize upon tlie idol before its altar, and drag 
it <lown and destroy it forever. [Applause.] 

The President has done a great many other " unconstitutional" things. 
He has disregarded the right of /tahaot corpus; and for that he is a " ty- 
rant." The right to suspend the /Ktlxas <'or/ins is given in the Constitution 
of this country; and the men who talk about the unconslitutionaiity of this 
or of other acts of tlie I'rcsitient, ought to go and read the Constitution be- 
fore they undertake to talk about it. [A voice, " Perhaps they can't ri'ad." 
Laughter.] 'I'he Ct)nstituli»>n jiives the power. Jt provides that the right 
siuill not be suspended, "except in time of war." This I bt^lieve is wliat 
th(! lawyers would call a negaiive pregnant with an ailiiinative : and is as 
if the Coiifttitulion had said, In lime of war it may be 8ns|»ended. 

For what is it suspended ? We are l(»ld that he ought not to suspend it 
in New York, Ixicause the war does not exist here. Alrea<ly I supi)08e 
there are those wiio tliiiik thut New York is virluallv out of the Union. 



58 

The arGrument is, that hostilities exist in South Carolina, or Georgia, or 
other Sii'.ithern states, and that there it might be well to suspend the right 
of habuus corpus, and that it is the meaning of the Constitution that it 
may be suspended thei'e. Gentlemen sui-ely do not understand ttie object 
of the constitutional provision. It is not for the purpose of dealing with 
traitors with arms in their hands, in military array against the govern- 
ment, that the Constitution provides for the suspension of the habeas cor- 
pus in order that men may be taken hold of. Not at all. For men in 
arms against the government, armies are provided with bayonets and 
sword--, instruments of death, in their hands, ready to mete out justice to 
traitor;^ whenever and wherever they find them. It is not for the purpose 
of taking hold of a man who has done enough to convict him, before a 
proper tribunal and an impartial jury, of treason against the government, 
that provision is made for the suspension of that writ ; but it is made for 
the purpose of enabling the President to take hold of men who have done 
not quite enough to enable him to convict them of outright treason, and 
yet too much to allow them to remain in the body of society ; to enable 
him to lay his hand on them and place them out of the way of tempting 
weak men to become disloyal to the government. [Applause.] When you 
hear one of these men complaining so much that Abraham Lincoln is 
a tyrant, tell him that he furnishes an answer to the charge in his 
own respected person ; because he is the very character that the govern- 
ment ought to take care of, and the government will be remiss in its duty 
if it does not take hold of him accordingly. The man who makes the 
charge is a living monument to the lie he tells. If Abraham Lincoln were 
a tyrant, no man in this ci'itlcal condition of the country could go about 
calling him one ; for he would not permit it. If he had been a severe man 
even, if he had been disposed to wield all the power he had, for the pres- 
ervation of the government, situated as he is, a thousand heads would 
have rolled from the block before this evening. 

Congress, too, comes in for its share of reproach. They tell you that 
that has been violating the Constitution. Men who have been higli in 
position heretofore, and who ought to be still higher now, by at least twenty 
feet [laughter], tell you that Congress has violated the Constitution of the 
country, in pi-oviding the means of replenishing the wasted ranks of the 
army by means of the conscription ii>it, and that it is such a violation of 
the Constitution of the country, that the good people of New York should 
be invoked to resist the government in enforcing the law ; and this is 
all done in the name of the Constitution, to preserve it. Again let me 
ask if the men who take this ground have read the Constitution of 
their country, or if they suppose that the great body of the p'eople have 
never read it ? Let me ask you who take this position, whether tliat same 
Constitution, or any authority of the government, has given you the right 
to determine this grave constitutional question! When did it give you the 
right ? And how "? Has the Constitution provided any means of settling 
constitutional questions which may arise in respect to the law passed by 
Congress? Certainly it has. What means has it provided? That the 
people of New York shall rise up in mass meetings and say that tlie law 
is unconstitutional? Oh, no! By tlie state authorities ignoring it, as 
South Carolina did in 1832, nulHfying the law? No. How then? By 
taking the case, under the law, to the Supreme Court of the United Slates, 



54 

nad invoking its solemn judgment ; and if that august tribunal shall decide 
tliat such law has been passed by Congi-e?s "without aiitliority, yon will 
have no occasion to resist the government, because it will not attempt to 
put ihe law in i'orce. Jiut until it is so ascertained, the man Avho under- 
takes to resist the law, or who advises its resistance, is already a traitor 
against the government, and inviting the people to plunge headlong into 
rebellion. It is not done without a purpose. It is not done out of loyal 
love an d respect and veneration for the Constitution. It is not to protect 
the rigVts of the people. But it is a cool, fiendish, deliberate purpose to 
produce schism and confusion in your midst, that such doctrines are put 
forth ; and I say that the men who do it ouglit to be hanged by the gov- 
enment ; and if I could utter a word taking the tone of a curse aga-nst 
the present administration, it would be because it has shown a timidity, 
almost criminal, in not immediately taking hold of and dealing with all 
such men. [Applause.] 

There are many other things objected to The truth is, that the govern- 
ment can do notiiing these men do not object to. Every solemn effort 
made by the President, or by Congress, or by your armies in the field, is 
the subject of constant unfriendly criticism upon the part of the.«<e object- 
ors. Yet we hear not a word of reproach or condemnation, not a whisper, 
against the men who have caused the trouble in which we are now involved. 
We hear not a disrespectful word from them against Jefferson Davis, or 
any of his friends. On the contrary, tliey consider him almost the type 
of perfection in man — one of the gi-oatest men of the age. I am willing 
that every rebel here, or elsewhere, should sing ptisans to him. I do not 
want them to give tlieir assent to the act of a single loyal man of the coun- 
try. It would be a reproach to a loyal man to have their commendation 
under any circumstances. If they needs must crown their hero, let them 
crown him with a wreath befitting his chtiracter, and suited to the deeds of 
his life. Having attempted the destruction of his coinitry, in whose lap 
he was nursed in youth, by which he was educated, and by which in man- 
hood he was trusted as one of its accredited agents; having a high plac- 
in its councils by virtue of the solemn oath he took to support the Cone 
stitution, and to legislate for the best interests of the country ; having per- 
jured himself and prostituted his high position to tear down the republic, 
to plot treason for years, witii the coolness of a fiend — if, fordoing all tliat, 
for well nigh accomplishing it, and making men almost doubt the capacity 
of man for self-government, which had n(>arly become part of our religion, 
ho deserves a crown — 

" Then weave llu^ wri'utli, tli<> lioro's brow to suit, 
Of bliisled leiif, mid doatli-ilistilling I'ruil "' 

Go, gather the cypress and tlie hemlock, the nightshade and the deadly 
upas; sleep tlicm in llie tears of the widows and nrphans he has made ; 
sprinkle them with tlie blood of your brothers ami sous ; breathe upon 
ihcni the nation's deepest curse; and then bind them uj)ou his l)row, there 
to blister through all time and burn through eternilv; and pjilsiid be the 
ami, and withered lure\cr, that would stretch forth the friendly liaiid to 
snHti;h them hence. [(J real iij)|)lause. ] J.et ihom come and leceive their 
luurels. Let them come boldly, for they have won thcni well ; and from 
this hour, neither angels in heaven, men on curth, nor fiends in hell, will 
deiiv their claims fo eferiial iiiCrmiv. 



55 

After the outburst of feeling caused by the capture of F'ort Sumter, 
there came a day of apathy, doubt, and almost of despair; but, at every 
step through this disastrous war, the people have gone deeper and deeper 
in their research into the cause of the struggle, and have learned more and 
more of the spirit, the object, and the temper of the men engaged in it, 
until at last I believe that they have risen to the full consciousness of the 
magnitude of the struggle that is pending. Tliey know that it involves 
the life or death of this great government, and that there can be no com- 
promise ottered or thought of The man who talks of it is either a fool or 
a hypocrite. Every well-informed man now understands that no compro- 
mise can be ottered that would be accepted by the leaders of the rebellion. 
We know, too, that, the leaders out of the way, the great body of the 
people are ready to come back without any compromise. They have ac- 
cepted the compromise offered by the President in his proclamation ; and 
that is, that the hellish cause of the rebellion shall die with the rebellion. 
[Applause.] Tiie only thing that could create another rebellion shall be 
cast back behind us forever. It shall never again be the cause of disturb- 
ance. Why, then, talk about compromise? What we want is unity of 
action, and to strengthen the hands of the government. How is that to 
be done ? We profess to be lovers of liberty. The man who seeks to 
destroy the confidence of the public in the President, and the men under 
him who are carrying on the war, profess to be democrats. What do you 
mean by the term democracy? If you mean love of the democratic 
principle, that is the leading feature of our government. If you do 
love that principle which makes all men under the constitution and the 
laws equals — which gives to each man tl>e same measure, and offers to 
him the same protection of life, liberty, and property — you are a demo- 
crat indeed ; and in God's name, I say, be a democrat, and I will help 
you if I know how. But if you mean anything narrower than that — if 
you mean by democracy something that is against the government — then 
you are no democrat, and you commit a libel upon the name of democracy 
when you call yourself one. [Applause.] 

The war is going on, and we must sustain the government. Men tell 
you that you can sustain the government at the same time that you con- 
demn the President and those that act under him. I am not here to tell 
you that the President of the United States is the government, or that the 
President and the Congress, taken together, are the government. I think 
I understand something about the theory of this government. It is a gov- 
ernment of the people, it is true. They are the ground-work of the gov- 
ernment. The government rests upon the people ; but it is a government 
you have created yourselves, and you have prescribed the manner in which 
your power shall be exercised. You do not get up primary assemblages 
like this to determine what shall be done in raising an army and prose- 
cuting the war ; but you have adopted a constitution, and by that you 
agree every four years to elect a President, and to clothe him with 
power to administer the government for four years. You are bound by 
the constitution which you have made, bound by the rules you have 
adopted for the exercise of your own power, and you cannot go beyond 
this, unless you seek to create revolution. Therefore, having selected your 
President, and made him your agent, under your rules, does it behoove 
you, when your interests are threatened, and when your agent is doing 



56 

all lie ran to protect your interests and preserve your right?, even if you 
conceive him to commit errors, to go about and cau?e all men to turn away 
from liiin and leave him helpless? When the agent you have created is 
protecting your own rights, is it not your duty to come up and give him 
your help, to aid him by your friendly counsels, and not to thwart him by 
constant attacks, and statements which, if true, would prove him to be 
unworthy of your confidence or your support? It is not only your duty 
to do that, but it is your duty to do more. While he is your President, 
as he must be for two years, when we all realize that this rebellion must 
be put down Avithin two years, what then ought you to do ^ Sustain 
and support him by your coimsel and friendly, advice. If you think he 
has men about him in high places who are not doing the most effective 
work in ci'ushing out the rebellion, it is your bounden duty to let the Presi- 
dent know your opinion. W, for example, you believe that there are earn- 
est, able, and willing patriots who have worked well, but who by the 
jealousies of others have been displaced and withdrawn from the positions in 
which they were elFecting much good, it is your business to let the President 
know, and to let the world know, that those men ought to be restored. 
We want Fremont back again at the head of an army. [Applause.] We 
want old Ben. Butler back at the head of an army. [Applause.] We 
want Sigel back at the head of an army. [Applause.] They are all 
worthy men and patnots; and if it so happened that by their superior 
intuition or knowledge of the filets, they foresaw earlier than others, and 
e.«pecially before the administration, the policy that this government 
must ultimately adopt in crushing the rebellion, that is no reason why 
they should not be allowed to aid in carrying out that policy after it has 
been adopted by the administration. I say it is our duty to the President 
to say this to him in a friemlly way ; and as one who has done all I could 
in every way, and will continue to do it to the end, no matter what my 
personal fiite may be, I would say this to him as frankly to-night as to 
the humblest man in the land. I believe if we say this, the President 
will ap|)reciate it, and sooner or later will act upon it. 

Now, fellow-citizens, let us rally to the support of the President; and 
if we act four month.s vigorously together, the victory will have been 
achieved. The bottom is reaily to drop out of the rebellion to-night. 
While I speak it may be that the old flag, di.shouorcHl two years ago to- 
day, is again run up and waving over Sumter. [Applause.] It is wav- 
ing on South (Jaroliiui soil, thank (iod. [Reneweil applause.] The brave 
and gallant spirit at the head of that little baml, deserte<l by the govern- 
ment then in power — a democratic government too, who n-fused to send 
him SMccnr — the noble Anderson, deserted, alone, surrounded by traitors 
and euemies, fought them until he could light them no more. AVhen the 
flag Weill down at the entl of that struggle. South Carolina doubtless 
thought the victory was won, and the independence of the Confederate 
States already established. [ take it tiiat now they feel that this is a 
little more than they bargained for. The chi<'kons are coming home to 
roost before they iiave prepareil poles to receive them; and th«y have not 
polen enouglij even if they had had notice of their coming. [Laughter.] 
One earnest movenu'nt upon the part of the people, an<l the work is done. 

N>i man under hesivcn coidd luivc avoided mistakes unih-r the circufn- 
Btances. (Jen. Wiu»hin<rton had as mauv rcvilers ;is .\l»raham Lincoln: 



67 

and I have no doubt that the men who are now trying to make the country- 
believe that Lincoln ia not doing his duty, would have said the same of 
Washington ; for there were just such men who did say the same of Wash- 
ington when he was President. Give your support to the President, and, 
I repeat, the bottom will be out of this rebellion in four months. Their 
matei-ial for armies has been exhausted. The conscription there has 
swept in every man that could be found, whether by the corporals or the 
blood-hounds, between the ages of sixteen and sixty, excepting the men 
fortunate enough to own twenty negroes apiece, and they are exempt. 
When you are complaining of the conscription act of this government, 
why do you not say something of the conscription act of the rebels, with 
whom you have so much sympathy ? No man who owns twenty negroes 
is called upon to go and fight. They are to be kept as safely as possible. 
When the war is over, and the victory is achieved, they want as few poor 
white men as possible. They want all the operatorp to be negroes, and 
the white men to be all loi'ds and gentlemen. Why not tell the people 
that ? That is no part of your policy. You do not want the laboring 
men in this part of the country to understand that this is a war against 
poor men. Rich men can live under almost any form of government ; 
but poor men have the deepest and most abiding interest in free institu- 
tions and free government. Again, we have the material power ; we have 
all the money upon our side, and can soon crush the rebellion if outsiders 
will keep their hands off. There is more money in this city to-day than 
there is in the hands of all the rebels outside of England and Finance. 
Go on, and in a few days we shall hear the glad shout of a country re- 
deemed, a nation regenerated, coming up from Maine to California ; and 
you will have aided in achieving the most brilliant triumph of liberty over 
despotism, not only in modern days, but in the whole history of the world. 
Your children will read it at school, and your children's children will draw 
from it the inspiration of liberty, the love of freedom, and will transmit 
the heritage you gave them unimpaired to successive generations of their 
descendants, an honor and a glory until the end of time. 

SPEECH OF HON. JAMES M. SCOVEL, OF NEVT JERSEY. 

The President introduced the Hon. Mr. Scovel, a member of the cop- 
perhead legislature of New Jersey. 

Hon. Mr. Scovet. said : Being called upon to speak at this time, I am 
reminded of a family which once visited Mount Vesuvius, and being dis- 
appointed in witnessing an eruption, they let off a Roman candle. I feel 
this afternoon as if, after the gorgeous display of volcanic fires, I were to 
follow with a Roman candle; but although I cannot entertain you with 
the eloquence of the gentlemen who have preceded me, I can perhaps 
speak to you a few words of truth and soberness. Your President has in- 
troduced me as a member of the copperhead legislature of New Jersey. 
In that legislature there were seventeen men who did not vote for the in- 
famous peace resolutions — men who never bowed the knee to Baal. As 
one of those seventeen, when asked if I was ready to shoulder the musket, 
I told them that I was ready to shoulder a copperhead at any time ; for, 
as the poet says — or, if he did not, as he ought to have saicf — 

" When Adam first with Eve did wed, 
Into the garden came a copperhead." [Laughter and applause.] 



58 

One of the earliest copperheads was John C. Calhoun ; and next to 
him perhaps Ave may rank tlie Old Public Functionary ; and tiion comes 
Mr. Wood, cliristened Fernando. Let nie licre remind the Pre>idint that 
I think he and I are about even, for if New Jersey produced a copperhead 
legislatm*e, she has never produced a Fernando Wood. [Laughter.] Fer- 
nando Wood told us in a recent speech that he had had an interview with 
Lord Lyons. I wish he could have an interview with Gen. Butler or 
with Rosecrans ; for I have no doubt that either of them would iiave 
given him an opportunity to consider the maxim, " Brag is a good dog, 
but Holdfast is a better." [Laughter.] I speak of Fernando Wood as a 
representative copperhead. He sets himself up as the man that leads that 
party. He pretends to lead the democratic party. The IMozart reoiment 
itself repudiates him, and states that he never gave a dollar to equip that 
regiment or to send them to the battle-field. He says he has given more 
dollars than some patriots have given cents ; yet tliere is not a man in the 
army who has not more patriotism than Fernando Wood has dollars. 
Such a man as he claims to be the leader of the democratic party. It 
was my privilege to follow the banner of Mr. Douglas until that banner 
waved above his grave. I never regretted it, and never will regret it : 
for his last expressions were in favor of the Constitution and the Union, 
and he warned his children to stand by the flag of his country. [A voice, 
" God bless his memory."] Ay, and God bless the memory of every 
man who is true to his country to the last. He was a democrat ; and I 
ask you if Edwin Stanton is not a democrat ? Is not Daniel S. Dickinson 
a democrat? Is not Gen. Halleck a democrat ? Is not old Ben Butler, 
perhaps to be our next President — a democrat ? [Great applause.] Your 
little boy will get astride of a stick and call it a horse ; but that does not 
make it a horse. Fernando AN^ood calls himself a democrat, but that 
does not niake him a demociat. [A voice, " He is a demagogue.'"] We 
hear men say a great deal about their jxitriotism and about state rights. 
In the legislature of which I am a member, one man rose in his place and 
said he was a state rights democrat. ]iut Robert Dale Owen says that 
when you hear a man talking in favor of state-rights, he means by state- 
rights merely an arm stretched out between a traitor and the gallows. 
Every man who sympathizes with treason is a traitor; and so when this 
man announced himself a state-rights democrat, I told him he was a dis- 
loyal man and a traitor, and he did not dare to I'esent it. lii-ave men 
everywhere have an instinctive aversion to traitors and cowards ; and 
wherever ycu sec these Northern men with Southern principles — the men 
wlio, if thoy had lived in the lime of the Revolution, would have been 
tories — you will lind men not oidy cowards, but with treason in their hearts. 
No man who has the sentiments whieli aetuate free and patriotic men, in 
such a time as this will raise his voice against President Lincoln, or to 
weaken the strength of the government, or to al)ridge its constitutional 
powers. But when we turn to the people and call upon them to su.-tain 
the goverinnent, they listen to us and respond to the appeal. Ask New 
Hampshire, ask Rhode Island, a.sk glorious little Conneetieut. In thun- 
der tones tlie response comes back to us. [Three cheers were given for 
Connecticut.] Every patriot was tremulous with anxiety about the Con- 
neetieut (flection ; antl iiow glorious was the feeling that kindled in the 
heart of (^very true m.iii when he saw them rallying around tlie old (lag, 



59 

and when he saw that the President was sustained by these three states, 
which could not be deceived or sold by traitors who love their own self- 
interest more than they love their country ! Whenever you hear a man 
calling himself a member of the once-honored democratic party, and fol- 
lowing the man who claims to be a leader of the party, tell him tliat when 
a party deserts its country it becomes a faction, and that in time of war 
men who adhere to that faction become conspirators and traitors. If 
Fernando Wood and his followers act as conspirators, let them have the 
everlasting infamy, and let their names be remembered, if at all, only as 
the Catilines of America. I remember the story of an old .sailor, who, 
after he had been off at sea for a long time, came back to look after a lady 
of whom he had once been enamored, but could not find her. At last he 
went into a graveyard — rather a queer place to look for his Mary Ann 
— and there he did not find her ; but he found a tombstone bearing the 
inscription : 

" Weep not for me, my dearest dear ; 
I am not dead, though I lie here." 

The old sailor did not understand it ; he looked at it a few minutes, 
and then he exclaimed, " Shiver my timbers ; I think if I was dead I would 
own up." [Laughter.] So it is to-day with those copperheads. The 
freemen of this country are awake. They understand what patriotism is. 
They understand that it is not merely a sentiment, but that it is a prin- 
ciple, and that its foundation is virtue. If we are true to the country, 
we shall stand by the soldiers of the country. They know what self- 
sacrifice is — these men that sustain our flag upon a thousand fields. 
Among the proudest days of my life have been those when I have re- 
ceived letters from the gallant soldiers of New Jersey in the national army. 
There has been no time since the war first broke out when there have not 
been large numbers of men in New Jersey willing to make peace with the 
Southern rebellion. They do not even call it the Southern rebellion ; they 
call it the " irregular opposition of the South ;" and they say they " do 
not want to offend their erring brethren of the South." There were five 
of them who were willing to go to Jefferson Davis and, upon their bended 
knees, ask him to make peace. [A voice, '' Hang them."] The day will 
come when their children shall he ashamed to call them father. But im- 
agine those men going down to Jefferson Davis, the perjured tyrant of 
the Southern Confederacy, and asking him to make peace with them ! He 
would order them out of the Southern Confederacy in twelve hours; and if 
they were not, they would soon be like Paganini's music — executed on a 
single string. [Laughter.] 

What is the duty of freemen in a time like this! It is their duty to 
stand by the flag of their country, and to stand by the President. I did 
not vote for President Lincoln. Many of you did not. But the hour he 
became the constitutionally elected President of the United States, from 
that hour we said we would sustain him. [Applause.] We know thfit 
President Lincoln desires to do just what the President of a free people 
ought to do. Knowing that, we will stand by him to the last dollar and 
the last man. Some men say that the conscription act ought not to be 
sustained. Old Mr. Narr, who calls himself a " locofoco" editor, said that, 
in his opinion, that act ought to be resisted ; and if they took him under 
that conscription act, they would have to fight for him. The old rascal 



60 



knew that he was sixty-five years of age, anrl that they would not have him 
anyhow. In forty-eisht liours after tliey had passed the peace resolu- 
tions, word came from the army of the Potomac what our soldiers thought 
of them ; and then these men said they never meant to interfere with the 
government at all. Tliey were only in fun. They meant no mischief. 
In Hudibras we read that, 

" Like a lobster boiled, the morn 
From black to red began to turn ;" 

and a somewhat similar change was apparent in the countenances of these 
men. Tlie history of New Jersey will hei'cafter show that at one time 
there was an organized band of these men, whose sentiments resembled 
those of some of your New York politicians, men who knew no passage in 
the Bible but '' Servants, obey your masters ;" who were ready to lie doMii 
before their Southern masters and do their bidding — an organized gang of 
these men who undertook to carry New Jersey out of the Union ; and it 
was only when loyal men sprang up to the rescue that they were willing to 
take the back track. This should serve as a warning to us to be watchful, 
lest we be surprised by the enemies of our country. 

I had a friend in the battle of Murfreesboro. When he was asked by 
his wife to come home a day or two before that battle, his answer was, " I 
would rather die upon the lield of battle, than that it sliould be said of me 
that I did not dare to do my duty." And that man died in a hand-to- 
hand conflict with the rebel cavalry, and his last words spoke his solicitude 
for his country. When I remember that man, and the gallant boy Cum- 
mings fighting on the Harriet Lane, and the friend at Vicksbiu'g who had 
one leg siiattered before the attack, but said " Never mind me, boys ; get 
the vessel by the batteries, and the enemy may have my other leg," and know 
that it is such men as these who sustain the honor of tlie country, I should 
be a coward if I did not take care to keep alivo the spirit of" patriotism at 
home, and to put down tiie men who atteuipt to strike down the soldiers, 
and seek to betray them at the ballot-box. You remember tiiat Lord 
Nelson said, at Trafalgar, " England expects every man to do his duty." 
This country expects every man to do his duty; and every woman, God 
bless them ! to do her duty ; and under the heavens that shine above us we 
will do our duty. We will not submit to the Southern rebels, or yield to 
their demands. Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, said at tme time that 
he was " born insensible to fear," when l\Ir. Adams replied, "Most babies 
are." [Laughter.] W hatevcr our feelings toward tliem, we shall not 
fear tliem. Put we shall liave a feeling of regret that citizens of ti»e same 
nation siiould have raised their parriciiial hands against our /lag. 

" So the struck en^le, stretched upon the pliiin, 
No nmro tlirougli rollinij cIoiuIh to noar again, 
Views liin own feather on tlie fatal <lart 
That wiiij;e<l tlie tilmft that (juiv<Trt in his lieart. 
Keen Were bin pan^K, but ki'i'ner lar to feel 
lie iinrscil the pinicri that iiii|iclli'il the steel ; 
AVhiiflhe K.iine |iliiniiiL;<' that had wanned his nest, 
Drank tlie last lifL--dro|) of his bleeding breast." 

Let us say, with ("la\l()n, of Delaware — I am sorry that Noav Jersey is 
behinil 1 )i'laware and .Missouri, but we will yot send loyal men to (lie legisia- 



61 

ture who will expunge those peace resolutions — " Accursed be the hand 
that let slip the first arrow at the American flag." Let us do our duty. 
Let us rally around that flag, and let every man of us, as we gnze upon 
the sacred folds of that banner, raise the rallying cry of " Liberty and 
Union." Let the last prayer of every patriot be, " May God bless and 
save the American Union !" 



SPEECH OF REV. J. T. DURTEA. 

Rev. Mr. Dukyea was introduced to the meeting, and said : The sua 
reminds me that I ought to be brief It has already gone down. God 
grant that its last gleams may have glittered over the blackened walls of 
fallen Sumter, and upon the fixed bayonets of a federal guard patrolling in 
the city of Charle.«ton ! [Applause.] It may be well for us to stand here 
in the sombre twilight, and think solemn thoughts ; thoughts of the great 
future ; thoughts of our duty ; thoughts of our past, in its glorious history ; 
of our present, in its mo nentous i^'sues ; of our future, in its once glad 
and glorious, though now clouded promise. Ay, it may be prophetic, if 
we stand under the sky and see the stars come out, one by one, until the 
firmament is full-orbed as the firmament of our national glory will yet 
shine before all the earth, one star after another, beaming and sparkling 
out, until the finished gahixy resplendent shall call for praise and ad- 
miration from the world. [Applause.] Now, let us bring the tlioughts we 
have heard, and the doctrines that have been impressed upon our minds, to 
a practical issue. What shall be your position to-morrow in the community ? 
Wiiat shall be your determination in the future ? Will you accept the war 
cry, " Unity and the government fofever" ? [Applause.] You have seen 
that the sole object of the war is to establish the unity of the nation. The 
life of the nation depends upon the re-establishment of its unity. Upon 
the life of this nation depend the hopes of all the downtrodden of the earth. 
Your own hopes and the hopes of your children, your hopes for time, and 
your hopes, through the church of God planted in this country, for 
eternity. Will you solemnly swear, under God's heaven and in Plis pres- 
ence, that you will know no issue but the unity of the government, and 
you will know no cessation of efforts or of resources but w^ar until that 
unity be established? [Cries of "Yes, yes; we will!"] Let this 
sole i.-^sue rise colossal, before you. Bow down before the grandeur of a 
o-overnment united, consolidated beyond disintegration forever ; and let 
them take each other's hands and say, to the last man, to the last drop of 
blood, to the last dollar of our resources, we stand pledged, now and for- 
ever, for the unity of the government, indissoluble and perpetual. ["We 

will!"] 

I have stood by mothers who have burled their children, and underneath 
the sable veil of mourning were weeping hot tears of bereavement ; and I 
have said, " Has this war cost us enougli, and shall it ceasef and the quiv- 
ering lip has gasped, " Never." I have gone to the soldiers upon the tented 
field. I have seen their privations and witnessed their sorrows. I have 
seen atheir longing for home, their impatience to embrace their wives and 
little ones and join their fathers and mothers and sisters ; and I have asked 
them, " Has this war cost us enough, and shall we now relinquish it ?" and 
the answer has come back, unanimous, "Never." I have walked through the 



62 

hospital, from bed to bed. I have seen the shattered limbs, the pierced 
breast, the battered skull ; and going from couch to couch, I have said, 
" Have you who have bled and suffered and agonized, day after day and 
night after night, resolved that this war has cost enough, and that it shall 
cease? ' And from corridor to corridor of bustle, and from bed to beil of 
agony, the cry has come up, " Never, no never " [Cries of '' Never."] Plave 
you given cliildren, have you given limbs, have yuii given property, as have 
these mourning mothers, and those wounded, dying soldiers ? If you have 
not, never, never say the war has cost too much, until they shall say it. 
Never say cease, until they shall .''ay it. 

One word more. Let me tell you an incident. In Fort Sumter, 
two years ago, before the bombardment, General Anderson brought out 
the old flag that had been raised upon that flagstaff, and tied the halliard 
to the flag, and gathered his men around him, and asked the chaplain to 
kneel by the flagstaff and pray. He knelt with closed eyes, one hand 
above grasping the halliard, the other below, and thus knei'ling there at the 
foot of the flagstaff, before God, the chaplain prayed tluit that flng might 
never be lowered in the face of the enemy. After Fort Sumter had yield- 
ed, and the flag had been lowered, General Anderson called the man who 
had charge of the pennant halliard, and asked him if the flag had been 
lowered by himself Said he, " The old flag that we raised upon the flag- 
staff wlien we were bowed in prayer around it, was torn by the gale, and 
the day before the bombardment it w;'.s taken down to be mended ; and 
when the call came torehoist the flag, we took a new one because the other 
was not sewed together. We hoisted the new flag instead of the old one ; 
and the old flag,baptized with prayer, and consecrated with uplifted hands to 
God, and besought of God to be kept from desecration, never was lowered 
in the face of the enemy." General Anderson told me that flag never was 
hoisted before tlie enemy, nor before the enemy was it ever lowered. I 
have it in New York ; and I am patiently awaiting the time when I can 
bend out he halliards again, and not amid prayer, but amid .«()ng and thanks- 
giving, iigain hoist the old ensign to the peak. I said that fhig shall rise 
again. I\Iy fellow-citizens, if you love the destiny of mankind ; if you 
love the oppressed and downtrodden of the earth ; if you love your country ; 
if you love your family ; if you love your children, say, will you swear 
here befoC God, that fl:ig shiih rise there again? [''Yes, yes."] "Will you 
that love the past ; you whose hearts are full in the present, you lufore whom 
hope siiines brightly in the future, lift up now your good right hands to 
heaven and say, that fl:ig shall rise there again ? [The crowd raised their 
right hands.] Then let it ri.se, 

" nnd lonp; may it wavo, 
O'er the IiiuJ of tiie free luul the home of the bravo." 

The meeting then adjourned, and tlie assembK-d multitude dis|>crsed in 
the deepening shades of twilight. 



OFFICEES. 



STATSTD NO. 3. 

Under charge of Committee of Arrangements, 

C. E. DETMOLD, PARKE GODWIN, 

ROBERT LENOX KENNEDY, WILLIAM ORTON. 



DR 



President. 

FRANCIS LIEBER, 



Vice-Presidents. 



Charles P. Daly, 
Seth 15. Hunt, 
E. S. Sandford, 
Charles H. Marshall, . 
William H. Webb, 
Williaui Cullen Bryant, 
A. T. Stewart, 
George Griswold, 
William H. Anthon, 
E. Delafi,'-ld Smith, 
John J. Bradley, 
A. C. Richards, 
Don Alonzo Cushman, 
Joseph Walker, 
Daniel Slate, 
James Whiting, 
Henry Brewster, 
Charles S. Spencer, 
James K. PelF, 
William Watt, 
Elliot C. Cowdin, 
W. B. Roberts, 
James W. Farr, 
Isaac G. Ogden, 
Austin Leake, 
Joseph Balestier, 
Richard Storrs Willis, 
Joseph Hoxie, 
George Bliss, 



B. Westermann, 
Hyman Morange, 
George F. Thomae, 
George Starr, 
Chai'les P. Clinch, 
George S. Coe, 
George S. Bobbins, 
Andrus Willman, 
Pierre V. Duflon, 
J. C. Peters, 
Thomas Stevenson, 
Samuel Wetmore, 

C. H. Sand, 
Charles Steinway, 
George Woodward, 
J. M. Marsh, 
Erastus C. Benedict, 
Henry Seaman, 
William A. Dooley, 
Herman R. Leroy, 
Robert Colby, 
Henry S. Smith, 
Charles Pomeroy, 
John B. Wickersham, 
C. S. Franklin, 
Edward R. Ludlow, 
Weil Von Gernsbach, 
Charles Nelson, 
William Scharfenberg, 



Charles Scliaffner, 
Joseph W. Lester, 
Vincent Colyer, 
G. B. Teubuer, 
Chr. Karl, 
P. J. Joachimssen, 
Eugene S. Ballins, 
David Tappan, 
Edward lloyt, 
Robert L. Stewart, 



64 

Augustus Weissman, 
W. B. Dinsmore, 
Henry Ford, 
Benjamin F. ^Nfauierre, 
Alexander H. Stevens, 
Nehemiah Knight, 
George H. Moller, 
Adolph Douai, 
Dr. Luther Voss. 



Secretaries. 



William S. Opdyke, 
0. V. Coffin, 
Peter M. Myers, 
William Bibby, 
Walter \V. Phelps, 
Albert G. Stevens, 
Ellis .'Munday, 
James McGee, 
Henry K. Benkard, 
Thaddeu^ B. Faber, 
Hiram Calkins, 
James Ward Smyth, 



Frank Moore, 
Robert Benson, Jr., 
Henry R. Wiuthrop, 
John Henry Hall, 
Augustus C. Fransioli, 
J. Howard Waiuwright, 
L. P. Tibbals, 
Maturin L. Del afield, 
William Rhinelandur, 
Sidney Webster, 
David Drake, 
James S. Stearns, 



PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 
STAND No. 3. 



WEST SIDK OF UNION SQUARE, BETWEEN FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH STREETS. 

Salutes of Artillery hj the ivorhnen employed hy Henry Breivster ^ Co, 

1. Grand March from " Le Prophete," of Meyerbeer, by Dodworth's Grand 

Band. 

2. Dr. Francis Lieber, of the Council of the Loyal National League, will call 

the meeting to order. 

3. Address by Rev. Dr. Rudolph Dulon. 

4. C. E. Detmold, of the Executive Committee, will read the call for the meet- 

ing, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. Robert Lenox Kennedy will read the address adopted by the Council and 

Executive Committee on Lectures and Addresses. 

[6. William Orton will read the resolutions adopted by the Council and Execu- 
tive Committee. 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Major General Sigel will address the meeting. 

9. Music — singing: " The Army Hymn," written expressly for this occasion, 

by Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

10. Schuyler Colfax will address the meeting. 

IL Music — singing': " The Star-Spangled Banner." 

12. Governor Pierpont will address the meeting. 

13. Music — singing : " Song for the Loyal National League," written ex- 

pressly for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

14. Weil Von Gernsbach will address the meeting. 

15. William Orton will read an original poem, entitled " Those Seventy Men,' 

written expressly for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

16. Rev. J. A. Foersch will address the meeting. 

17. Music— singing : ''Our Union," written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street, 

5 



66 

"WTien the hour for commencing the proceedings had arrived, the grand 
march from " Le Prophele" of Meyerbeer was performed by Dodworth's 
band. •* 

Dr. Francis Lieber, of the Council of the Loyal National League, 
called the meeting to order. He said : 

Fem-oav-Citizens : Two yeai'S ago the boom of the challenge of treason 
reached us from Charleston, and now this very day Ave expect news from 
that s-ame port. We do not know which way the news will turn out, 
Avhethtr it wdl bring us a victory or whether any reverses may befoU us; 
but I venture to say that Avhether we are victorious innnediately and take 
that treajonable city, or whetlur every iron-clad vessel is sunk to the bot- 
tom there, Ave Avill remain lirm — ["Amen"]; Ave will carry out tliis war 
to the very last, and Avill not give it up until every inch of tiie country is 
restored to the United States [Applause.] No matter what turn the war 
has taken during these last tAvo years. Sometimes we Avere victorious, 
sometimes rcA-erses have befallen us ; but we meet here to-day again to 
profess our faith and again to jjlcdge ourselves not to give up this struggle 
— not to yield one inch until the United States authority is restoied — until 
we have again a country in her Avhole integrity — until avc can say again 
that Ave are American citizens from the North to the South, antV from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific. [Cheers.] AV^c Avill not allow pride, or arrogance, 
or untruth, to rule over us. We have come here to pledge ourselves to this 
purpose; and I belieA'e I can express far better what I bolicAe we liaAC 
come here for — what Ave have met hei'e for — if a portion of the address 
which will be given you entirely, be I'ead to you. There 1 have expressed 
on paper bt'ttrr than I could now do by t!ie woixi of mouth — and I hope 
and trust that I have there expressed only your vieAvs. I shall ask my 
liiend Mr. Lossing to read to you the last part of that address, and then 
ask you whether you agree Avith us or not. 

I introduce ]\Ir. Benson J. I-^ossing, well known by his Avorks on the 
Revolution and on the histor}' of the United States. 

SrKECU Ol' MU. I'.ENSON J. LOSSlNfi. 

Mr. Lossing spoke as follows : 

It gives me great pleasure to participate with you in the proceedings of 
this day, and 1 feel it to be an honor to be called upon to repeat to you by 
the words of my moulh those \vi,-e sayings that have been put in print by 
the esteemed gentlemen who has ju>t addressed you. I would simply say 
that two years ago I was in Ncav Orleans on the morning of the l:.'th of 
April. We were iid'ormed by telegraph from Charleston that Fort Sumter 
was attacked. I rode down during the ul'ternoon to the battle ground 
Avherc dackson won the last and greatest battle of the war of 1812. While 
I w».s sitting upon the base of the monument erected near the iieadcpiarters 
of .lack.stin at that time, making a sketch of the fieUl of Chalmette, where 
the battle was foiigiil, I heard seven discharges of caiui<m at the city of 
New Orleans. KnoAving that the fort had been attacke«l that morning, I 
said to my travelling companions — 



67 

At this juncture Major-Gen. SiCxEL appeared upon the stand, and was 
greeted with loud and protracted cheering. As soon as silence was par- 
tially obtained, Mr. Lossing continued his remarks. 

Gentlemen, I will detain you but a moment longer, because one of the 
bravest of the brave is here to address you. I would simply say that 
when I heard those seven discharges of cannon, I knew that it meant the 
seven Confederate States rejoicing over the fall of Sumter. I said to my 
travelling companion, " Fort Sumter is gone;" but the sound of that can- 
non to my ears was more significant than that. It sounded to my ears the 
death knell of that Southern oligarchy — the power that had corrupfed eth 
public virtue of this country. ["That's it"— applause.] From that time 
to this I believed firmly — and my faith is stronger to-day tlian ever it was 
— that this whole rebellion is nothing more than an instrumentality in the 
hand.s of God for the purpose of strengthening and purifying this nation- 
[Cheers.] But I proceed now to read the words of wisdom from the emi. 
nent publicist who has addressed you. Dr. Lieber. 

Mr. LossTNG read as follows : 

" We will support the government, and call on it with a united voice to 
use greater and greater energy, as the contest may seem to draw to a close 
— so that whatever advantages we may gain, we may pursue them with 
increasing etficieucy. and to bring every one in the military or civil service 
that may be slow in the performance of his duty to a quick and efficient 
account. 

" We approve of the conscription act, and will give our loyal aid^in its 
being carried out, whenever the government shall consider the increase of 
our army necessary ; and we believe that the energy of the government 
should be plainly shown by retaliatory measures, in checking the savage 
brutalities committed by the enemy against our men in arms, or citizens, 
when they fall into their hands. [Applause.] 

" We declare that slavery, the corrupting root of this war, ought to be 
compressed within its narrowest feasible limits, with a view to its speedy 
extinction. 

"We declare that this is no question of politics, but one of simple patri- 
otism ; and we hold every one to be a traitor to his country, that works 
or speaks in favor of our criminal enemies, directly or indirectly, whether 
his offence be such that the law can overtake him or not. 

" We declare our inmost abhorrence of the secret societies which exist 
among us in favor of the rebellious enemy, and that we will denounce 
every participator in these nefarious societies, whenever known to us. We 
believe publicity the very basis of liberty. 

" We pledge our fullest support of the government in every measure 
which it shall deem fit to adopt against unfriendly and mischievous neu- 
trality ; and we caU upon it, as citizens that have the right and duty to 
call for protection on their own government, to adopt the speediest possi- 
ble measures to that important end. 

" We loyally support our government in its declarations and measures 
against all and every attempt of mediation, or armed or unarmed inter- 
ference in our civil war. [Loud applause.] 



68 



" "We solemnly declare that we will resist every partition of any portion 
of our country to the last extremity, whether this partition should be 
brought about by rebellious or treasonable citizens of our own, or by 
foreign powers, in the way that Poland was torn to pieces. 

"We pronounce every foreign minister accredited to our government, 
who tampers wilii our enemies, and holds intercourse with disloyal men 
among us, as failing in his duty toward us and toward his own people, and 
we await with attention the action of our government regarding the recent 
and surprising breach of tliis duty. 

" And we call upon every American, be he so by birth or choice, to join 
the loyal movement of these National Leagues, which is naught else than 
to join and follow our beckoning flag, and to adopt for his device — 

OUR COUNTRY! 

Dr. LiEBER : Fellow-citizens, do you agree with those sentiments that 
have been read to you 1 

Vociferous responses, '■ Yes," " Yes." 

The band performed " Hail, Columbia." 

The assemblage called loudly for " Sigel," " Sigel." 

Dr. LiEBER : You will have an opportunity of healing General Sigel 
soon. 

Mr. C. E. Detmold : Before proceeding, we will read the call under 
which this meeting is assembled to-day. 

jNIr. Detmold read the call. 

When the call was read, loud demands were made again for General 
Sigel. 

A VOICE : " Give us Sigel, the best general in America." 

Major-Gen. Sicel complied with the universal demand, and on rising 
was gi'eetfd with enthusiastic cheers. 

A voice: " Sprechen Dcutch." 

SrEECII OF MA.IOK-OENKH\I. 8IOEL. 

CJen. SicEr, said: Citizens, you will have somebody that will give you 
something better than I can do in (Ji'rman. Citizens of Now York, I 
greet you. 1 am glad to see a poMceful army around me. [.Applause] 
1 am gliid to see the |)i'ople of New Vork so liiithfid to thoir government, 
and so decrided in maintaining the great principles laid down in tlie Dicla- 
rutiiin of Independence, and in the proelamation of Aliiaham Uneoln. 
[(ircat cheers.] There are some, my lricnd.«, who sjiy that the satety of 



69 

this country will depend on the muscles of men — on the strong arms of the 
democracy. Tliere are some who say so now. I answer them in the 
name of ;i great people, that the rights of man and republican principles 
are strong r than the muscles of a few thousand demagogues. [Tremen- 
dous cheei's. " That's the tnlk."] Now, my friends, we are not fightinf^ 
a new battle. This time is not a new time for the American people ; it is 
the spirit uf 1776 [applause] which is making its tour round the globe, 
and wliich is revived in the hearts of the American people. [Renewed 
applause.] My friends, this spirit is awakened, and we have to maintain 
it. It not only is revived in the heart of the American people, but it has 
permeated France and Italy ; it has revived Germany and Hungary ; it 
has put the scythe and the lance in the hands of Kosciusko, Mieroslawski, 
and Langiewicz, and it has even frightened that far-avray grizzly 
bear of vSt. Petersburg. And Europe looks upon you as those who have 
to fight the battle. They say you began it in 1776. It is America which 
has brought forth this great movement, the French Revolution and all the 
revolutions following ; and it is in this country where the last blow must 
be struck, and where the last battle must be fought. You are not of the 
opinion of those who think that this war must be ended now, and must 
be ended very quickly, and I am not of that opinion either. Europe 
has for thirty years fought for religious independence, and has fought 
for the freedom of conscience. We, the American people, have to fight 
for republicanism and for the independence of nations. [Cheers.] We 
must not get tired. Your ancestors fought seven years to acquire their 
independence, and I think that the principles for which we are now battling 
and fighting are worth that we at least spend half that time for their 
maintenance. [Applause.] They say that this war is led on slowly. It 
is true. But the first year, you know very well, was spent in experiment- 
ing, in illusions, in false hopes : the second year was hardly sulficient to 
gather our forces ; and the third year, I think, will be sufficient to draw 
the iron band closely around secessionism, to strangle it. [Cheers. " Ten 
thousand men for Sigel."] I thank you for your sympathies. I have not 
come here to engage in the business of speech-making. I am only here 
on an errand^ and I hope I will not be here very long. I thank you for 
your sympathies, and I make room for somebody better. 

The General was loudly cheered on retiring from the front of the 
stand. 

SPEECH OF DR. DULON. 

Dr. Rudolph Dulon was then introduced amid great applause. He 
said — speaking in the German language — 

Mass meetings, resolutions, long speeches, hurraing, talk — all that does 
not, and never did, answer the purpose in momentous epochs. But, cer- 
tainly, the assembling of a powerful, resolute people, resolutions that 
clearly point out the path to corresponding deeds, speeches that throw oil 
into the fire, criticism that probes merciless into the foul flesh, these have, 
occasionally, in the work of great epochs, given powerful co-operation. 

And a great epoch is this. We might be led to suppose an epoch dif- 
fering widely from the men whom it makes. It is, indeed, a great epoch, 



and there are tall bodies, but pitifully small, dwarfed shapes of mind. 
Circumstances have made this epoch great ; circumstances occasioned by 
human folly and crimes. 

You lament the war ; you are alarmed at its terrible consequences. I 
tell you no power could exert a more peaceful influence upon tlie country 
than this war. For this war tlic patriot should have prayed. Slaveiy is 
a curse. It has been a curse in all times. It co-operated in tlie destruc- 
tion of Rome and in the ruin of flreece. Its innermost essentiality 
makes it a curse everywhere. With us, slavery was safe, protected as it 
was by ripht and law. By rigid and law, I say ; for the eternal riirlits of 
men weigh genei'ally as much in politics as a certificate of baptism in AVall 
street, or an abstract idea with the usurer. But the slaveholders them- 
selves voluntarily tear up this charter, overthrow that law, de.«troy their 
nafeguard. Then this holy war becomes a right, a duty, to which reason 
and patriotism call. Had not two things been wanting, reason and power 
of action, the victory would have been ours, liberty would have contpiered — 
liberty the most high, the most beautiful, the most sublime. IruleeJ, there 
never was anything greater at stake, never a more sublime prize fought 
for than even now. 

Do you consider this a mere phrase '? Look over tlie country, from the 
gulf to the lakes, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, that immen.«e continent ; 
look at its vast, superabundant resources, look at the immeasurable rich- 
ness in all that stinmlates industry and commoi-ce, general and universal 
culture of mind and body ! This country, rising in all its parts, with equal 
eflbrts, equally gitrautic, the proud realm of one free and powerful people, 
not stained by the touch of tyrannical princes, proclaiming that they are 
such by the grace of God, free from those wrongs and privileges, from 
those abuses and traditionary prejudices, that arc the curse of old Europe. 
Fellow-citizens, where was there ever anything superior to it — where any- 
thing like it ? Compared with this power, the old Roman empire, with 
all its ,«plendor, the empires of Alexander, Cliarlemagiic, Napoleon, are 
nothing. The despots of Euroj)e may all unite their powers ; should free 
America say, " It is my will," their united power will crumble into dust. 
Fellow-citizens, this is a sim|)le fact. Conquer, and you will see the truth 
of it. To assert theditliculty or the impossil)ility of oiu' victorv, is either 
treason or want of sense and of courage. Fellow-citizens, why are we 
here tu-dav ? To proclaim tliat we .see what is just before our eyes; to 
proclaim that we feel that to which only a codlish could be insuscci)tible ; 
to proclaim that we shall do what will even lill our pockets, and what will 
answer all our individual interests ; to swear to be true to our country, to 
sacrifice fortune and life, if need be, not with sounding words, like bab- 
blers, but with deeds that siiall put the enemy to flight. 

AVith these vows we will meet those European heroes and their j)lans of 
intervention. Come, ye lords, if you dare ; burn your fingers and intro- 
duce yourselves to tlic stout arms tiiat are in the service of a free people. 
Such are tlie vows, too, with which we oppose the traitors of the North. 
Beware, too, you misled, degenerate sons of the brightest, tlie proudest 
country tlie sun shines on ! The arm that is ready to destroy the invader, 
is (piite strong enough to break the hard skulls of tniitor.". Those vows 
shall unite us. W(! will encourage and inspire each other in times of 
gloom, at any loss and any sucrificc. We like nothing as well as money; 



71 

it is wanted ; we must give it. The country, indeed, will some time repay 
with enormous interest. Our own strong arms are wanted. Let us not 
despair. Not every ball kills, and within the free country it will be sweet 
to sleep. The country demands what is dearer to us than our own life, 
our sons, our pride and our hope. Press their hands, and send them into 
this war. "Kather upon than without the shield," be that the last fare- 
well. 

With this vo-jjf we turn finally to our government. It loses our battles, 
wastes our millions, and sacrifices unsuccessfully hundreds of thousands of 
our sons. Yet, you gentlemen in Washington, you can count upon us. 
We are not tired. We offei: once more life and fortune in the service of 
the people. But you must listen to us. 

Fellow-citizens, I must be short ; these gentlemen behind me pull my 
coat ; they want me to be done. They fear lest I might throw some dis- 
cord into the unanimous feeling of to-day, by blaming this government. 
And that I should indeed like to do. Will you, republicans, in times of 
difficulty, keep from your government one of the greatest blessings of re- 
publican institutions ? will you not favor the government, allowing it to 
bear the opinions of thoughtful and loyal citizens ? will you not allow the 
greatest blame, if it be well founded ? Will you in times of need, when 
the highest is at stake, when hearts are bleeding as mucli as purses — 
will you then give up your right, and will you plant servile silence, like 
the most obedient of subjects, upon the sacred soil of freedom ? I dare say 
we are men, not dogs ; we shall speak, not murmur. The government 
has managed badly. And we must proclaim it plainly, that we will not 
be the servants of their caprice. They have failed to place the right men 
in the right places. Now, t will be short, because I can be plastic. 

There is Butler, by the testimony of New Orleans, one of the greatest 
administrative geniuses that ever existed. Had he been immured in the 
ice at the North Pole, no sacrifice should have been too great for govern- 
ment to obtain his services. But they have him, and they — they relieve 
him. He is now travelling and making speeches. The government can- 
not place him ; they know no use for him ! There is Fremont. Can you 
find a better or more cultivated patriot? Can you find a man of which a 
country could be more proud ? He saw plainly and distinctly, wlien others 
doubted. He spoke liberty, while others groped in the dark. He, too, is 
no man for this government ! There is Sigel. Everybody knows the noble 
hero. His heroic deeds ai-e fresh in the memory of all, in spite of the 
pains that some men take to doom them to oblivion. And it is not true, 
that Carthage and Pea Ridge alone testify to his genius. Bentonville — 
600 against 5,000 — shows equal ability and heroism. And then, when 
again Bull Run witnessed bloody deeds, there was he, the hero, first par- 
ing the path for victory — then at last saving the army from total ruin, by 
his prudence. This renowned general is so vexed and offended by tlie 
government, that as an honorable man he cannot but lay down his 
sword. 

Fellow-citizens, as long as this is possible, our cause, the holy cause of 
our country, stands not well. If you continue to suffer this, if you do not 
denounce energetically such acts as these — then, whoever you are, free and 
poweiful men, true republicans you are not. 

Fellow-citizens, you *vill do your duty. Hail, Columbia ! Hail, our 
country ! 



72- 



SPEECH OF THE HON. SCHUTLER COLFAX. 

Hon. SciiuvLEU Golf AX, member of Congress from Indiana, was the 
next speaker. He said : 

Fki.i.ow-Citizeks : I liave listened ■« ith a great deal of interest to the 
speech ■which you liave just heard from my friend, Avho took his seat a few 
moments ago — not because I understood a word of it (for I did not), but 
because I saw his heart was in it, and yours, too. Every fiian who speaks 
for the Union and our noble flag, in the language of falhorland from Ger- 
many, or in the language of my own mother-tongue, or in that of sunny 
France and Italy, he is my brother and my friend, and his word falls 
sweetly on my ear. [Cheers.] There are others sjjcaking for our noble 
Union to day, in the very jaws of danger, at the port of Charleston, South 
Carolina. [Kenewed cheers.J 

God bless tliose noble men of arms who have gone foith to plant onr 
banner victoriously on the place Avhere the reptile flag of disunion first was 
raised ! [Clieers.] The afternoon of this April day to-day in Charleston 
has an atmosphere banging over it lurid Avith shot, and sliell, and flame. 
[Renewed apphiuse.] There waves on the one hand the Palmetto flag of 
treason, which seeks to divide this noble country, the heritage of our 
fathers: and above your sons and brother.^ — worthy suns of Avort by sires 
— floats the Ijanner of beauty, of glory, that never yet failed in the face of 
any foe, but wliich traitors have sought to trample in tbedust? [Ap- 
plause. " Tluy can't do it."] My friends, in <he bour wlien our country 
comes to make up her jewels, these brave men snrll be remembered in our 
heart of hearts — those men who went forth from this city, from my district 
in the far western state of Indiana, and every other loyal district in the 
Union, some in the freshness of life's June, and some in tlie full matin-ity 
of life's October, to give their life, if need be, for their beloved country — 
those men who.=e example shall live as long as history, and whose memory 
shall blossom even in the very dust of tlie grave. Their names sliall be 
written liigli upon the scroll of American fame. God bless them to-day! 
[Cheers.] May the God of Battles that stood by our fathers in the infancy of 
this country, and out of weakness gave tliem strengtii and jiower, stand by 
our noble defenders to-day. [Applause.] INIy liitiuis, I want you to remem- 
ber one thing more about that gallant army. The men who are under the 
folds of the American flag (juarrellcd in the past, as you iiave, in regard to 
the transitory issues of the past. Ihey (juarrelled at the primary meetings, 
at the polls, everywhere wliere men could honestly ilifl'er in the exercise of 
li freeman's privilege; but when their country was in danger, when the 
issues of national life and death hung trembling in the balance, they threw 
away from them all these petty diflerence.«, and struck hands together as 
noble patriots under our country's flag. Why cammt we imitate their 
noble example here at home? for to-day the (piestion is not the minor 
issues of the past, which are but as dust in the lialance. It is the greater, 
the nobler, ibe more inijiortant question — not only as regards the luritage 
be(puaitiu(l to us, but in icgard to yt)nr posterity in tlie coming {.(lu rations 
of the futuie. Jt is wliellier tliis republic of ours shall li\e, or wliether it 
shall die. 

It is whether thiscoimtry !^liall remain the beacon-light for the ojiprc^scd 
of all natii II,- to lloek to our o|)i'n gales, with thcTJnion as its insignia, as 



T3 

it has been in the past, of its power and strength as well as its promise for 
the future — or whether it shall be shattered into pieces, divided into hostile 
and warring confederacies, and become at the mercy of every foi'eign des- 
pot, and subject to their insult, invasion, or triumph over us, until we are 
put under the hoof of the Old World, and liberty shall be crushed out in the 
warring confederacies of the American Republic, as thty have crushed it 
out on the soil of the Old World. [Loud cries of "Never, never."] It is 
to avert that, that hostile armies are marshalled to-day against the ranks 
of treason. There are some men who go around crying "Peace, peace," 
when there is and when there can be no peace except on the basis of sub- 
mission to rightful authority. [Cheers.] I say to you here to-day, my 
fellow-citizens (and I am a native of the city of New York), that the man 
here or elsewhere who will consent that this American Union sliall be 
severed by the sword of treason, is as false an American as the mother 
whom Solomon proved to be a false mother by proposing to divide the 
child about which she Avas disputing with her neighbor. Tiiat man who 
is willing to have this republic severed in twain might have been born un- 
der the stars and stripes, he may have been rocked in an American cradle, 
and may have an American mother (and I sympathize with that mother), 
but he has not an American heart. [Applause.] 

You have a right, my friends, to be proud of the distinguished services 
of your noble soldiers in the field in this great struggle for American na- 
tionality. You have read in ti.e historic past of evidences of noble hero- 
ism which are embalmed upon the page of history, and you have wept as 
you have read them. Y Ja have told them to your children on your knee, 
as the brightest example that ancient history can give you. I will recall 
before you a few familiar illustrations. There was the Spartan mother 
who told her child, " Return with your shield or upon it." That one 
single example has been the theme of eulogy for many centuries past ; and 
yet, in this conflict, this saying has been paralleled over and over again, 
hundreds, thousands tens of thousands of times, from these palatial resi- 
dences down to the humble cabins in the forests of Indiana. [Cheers.] Y''ou 
have heard, besides, of that mother who told her son, when he complained 
of his sword being too short, " Add one step to it and it will be long 
enough." You have seen mothers girding their sons and telling them to 
go forth, and if need be, willing to give the life of their first-born to the 
country that they have loved. You have heard of those women, in the 
olden time, that threw in their .jewels to save their country. All over this 
noble land of ours these acts have been absolutely thrown in the shade, for 
the women and men of America have brought forth not only their golden 
but living treasures to save this republic from disruption and disunion. 
[Applause.] You have heard of Curtius, who leaped into the yawning 
gulf to save the repubUc of which he was a citizen. We have here hun- 
dreds and thou?ands, and there are hundreds and thousands more, ready 
to leap into the fiery hell of flame at Charleston, to wrest victory, if pos- 
sible, even against odds, for the flag of the country of their birth. I know 
there are many others to address you, to whom you will listen, and who 
can interest you more than myself. The duty of the hour to-day is a per- 
fect abnegation of all the minor differences of the past, and the coming 
together, welded by the heat of an all-pervading patriotism into one mighty 
mass around our flag, our country, and our government. The lesson, the 



74: 



sentiment of to-day, is " unite" — above all things else, " unite," enfor- 
cinor that unity by deeds of heroism in the field. I heard the speech with 
which this meeting was opened by the distinguished Gen. Sigel, who ad- 
dressed you — tliat noble and brave man. I wish to say, as a member of 
the American Congi-ess, I watched his course, from the opening of this 
■war until he returned, a few days ago, to the city of New York, and I 
cannot, for the life of me, point to one solitary military error which he 
committed in attack, in reverse, in battle, in march, in the camp, or in the 
field. He was like a tiger at bay and like a lion on the leap. [Applause.] 
He made you an eloquent speech to-day, but he made a more elofpient one 
at AVilson's Creek [clieers], another at Carthage, another at Pea Kidge 
[renewed cheer.s] ; and before this war closes, when this administration 
shall, as I believe, and hope, and trust they will, weed out every com- 
manding officer whose whole heart is not in this struggle — who does not 
feel all over like standing by the government, and by the President — and 
put men who were first to hurt the rebels in the closing AVaterhjo of this 
war, you will see Sigel, and the men fighting " mit Sigel," charging. 
[Loud cheers.] I think that Sigel ought to make all the speeches to- 
day. 

Now, my friends, I told you I intended to draw my remarks to a con- 
clusion, that you might hear other speakers upon this stand. You are 
sometimes told that there is a difference between the government and the 
President. I say to you that you can only know your government and 
your administration through your President. You might as well say you 
can recognize the corporation that exists in the city of New York without 
recognizing the men who are the officers of that corporation, who are to 
sue and to be sued, who stand living, breathing embodiments of the corpo- 
rate authority granted to them. And so it is with our government. It is 
known abroad by Abraliam Lincoln, it is known at home by Mr. Lincoln. 
It is Mr. LiNOOi.K who is civil President ; it is he who is military President 
of the United States ; it is he who is commander-in-chief of the army and 
navy of the Republic. You cannot separate or disassociate the two : and 
I say to you, therefore, when the copperhead, who, for the sake of stab- 
bing at his country, is willing to stand by these traitors, who have for- 
sworn a most sacred oath, that thereby they might stab with a more certain 
instinct, and plunge the dagger into the nation's heart — when these men 
talk to you, I say in reply, " Stand by tiie President." [Loud applause.] 

If the hour of reverse comes in war, remember it is only by and through 
the President alone and his power that this gigantic rel)L'llion can be crush- 
ed out utterly and forever. However we may differ, and I say to you 
whilf I endorse the proclamation of tiie President through and tiirough, up 
and down, from one entl of it to the other — [applause] — yet any man who 
stands unconditionally by the Union, uncon<litiona]ly by the army. I re- 
cognize; liim as my brother, as true and noble and whole-souled and devoted 
a p.'itriot, whether he thinks this proclamation is too broad or too narrow. 
It is the cause of the Utiion that towers above all things else; the L'nion 
represented in that noble (lag that waves over our soldiers to-day ; that 
Union that in yet to be restored in all its pristine purity, purged of treason 
on eveiy side ; for though they may tell you that tiie South will not sub- 
mit, I ti'U you in reply that when the, military j)ower of the South is 
broken (and it is dying to-day of exhaustion), the Union will be re.-tored. 



75 

The very women of the South who now in bread riots ai'e breaking open 
confederate warehouses to supply themselves and their children with the 
necessaries of life, will hail that flag in triumphal procession, not only as 
the emblem of union, but as the harbinger of peace and of plenty to them. 
[Cheers.] In that glorious hour when you shall welcome back with tri- 
umphal acclaim the noble men who went forth from your midst to be the 
saviours, defenders, and protectors of the Union, we can all say in the 
beautiful language of the poet : 

" Flag of our hearts, our symbol and our trust, 
Though traitors trample thy bright folds in dust. 
Though vile ambition, dark rebellion's lust, 

Conspire to tear thee dosvn ; 
MilHons of loyal lips thy folds caress. 
Millions of loyal hearts thy stars do bless, 
Millions of loyal hands will round thee press, 
To guard thy old renown." [Cheers.] 

Gen, Sigel: I will introduce to you Gov. Pierpont of Virginia. 
He was never out in the field — he was a little too heavy for that — but I 
have seen some of his boys. I have made their acquaintance, and I have 
found them faithful. 



SPEECH OF GOV. PIERPONT. 

Gov. Pierpont was received with loud cheering. He spoke as follows : 

Fellow-Citizens : I know from the hearing that you have given to 
those who have spoken in a different language to-day, that many of you, 
perhaps, do not understand my native tongue [" O, yes, go-ahead"] ; but 
from the cheers that you have given and the hearty response that you have 
made to every sentiment that was uttered, I know that your heart beats 
wdth my heart to the tap of the Constitution and the Union to-day. [Ap- 
plause.] My fellow-citizens, it is a matter of extreme pleasure that I meet 
with you on this occasion. I think it is one happily conceived that there 
should be a great meeting in the city of New York on this, the anniversary 
of the attack upon Fort Sumter. ["Hear, hear," and applause.] My 
fellow-citizens, that attack was not a sudden impulse of passion ; the event 
that led to it was not the mere election of a particular man as President 
of the United States. It was the outbreaking of an old feeling that had 
fought against our fathers in the days of the Revolution, under the ^ ame 
of tory ; that had taken its seat in South Carolina, and has been in South 
Carolina politics from that day until the present, and has many sym- 
pathizers all over the country in the shape of copperheads. [Cheers.] 
They had decided in their own minds that the two institutions of labor in 
this country could not exist ; they had preached the doctrine that where 
labor participated in government, that the institutions of the country cou Id 
not be stable ; they had preached the doctrine that the laborers of the South 
were slaves, and that the laborers of the North were no better ; they had 
inculcated that in the minds of their children, daughters, and wives, and 
upon this great idea they inaugurated this revolution ; not for the purpose 
of perpetuating slavery particularly, not for the purpose of dividing the 
North and the South, but, my fellow-citizens, for the purpose of enslaving 



Y6 

the laborinw men, whether they were in the North or whether Ihey were in 
the South [cheer?] : and I tell yon, gentlemen, to-d:iy, this is the contest 
that was inaugurated at Fort Sumter on the 11th of April, 1801. It re- 
mains to be seen how that fight will be fought out. They liad been in- 
duced to believe at the South (and I well know it, because I was right in 
the midst of them) that the people of the North would not tight : they be- 
lieved that one Southern man was equal to five Northern men, because a 
Southern man was a gentleman an<l a Northern man was a slave. My 
fellow-citizens, that contest is still going on. We have had reverses; we 
have had victories. It has been a powerful array of strength against 
strength ; but while the South have been united in this great light, we of 
the North have had our attention directed partly to the war, partly to 
making money, and partly to the opposition of the war. [Laughter and 
applause.] Now, fellow-citizens, this fight is coming to a close ; is is not 
going to last always; it must terminate some Avay, and it is to have one 
of two terminations. The one termination is for the South to triumph 
and subjugate you Avith all the white men in the South that labor, and put 
you upon an equality with their slaves by denying to you all participation 
in the government. [Vociferous exclamations of " Never, never. "] The 
other is, my fellow- citizens, for you of the North to whip the South, and 
place them ami their slaves upon an equalitj', and tell them, by the eternal 
God, that a traitor has no more rights than a slave. [Great cheering.] 
And, my fellow-citizens, you must hold this language to the ear of the 
people. I tell you, you must be in earnest ; they arc in earnest. You 
must hold it to the ear of the people ; and whether the traitor be North or 
whether he be South, or whether he be in your midst, you must teach him 
that the spirit of liberty, the spirit of eternal, indomitable liberty of every 
man, is in this fight, and that he is a foolish man who will throw himself 
in the way of its march. It will run over him and crush him in the dust, 
for God has intended this countiy all to be free, [.\pplause.] 

Why, my f(illow-citizens, what a spectacle do we present ! Americans, 
Germans, Irish, that have come over from Europe — lied from oppression 
there — hav'n't you f-een enough of aristocracy in the Old World ? [A voice, 
" Too much."] Have you come over here to unite with men to establish 
a Southern Confederacy, as they call it — who hold that our laboring men 
arc not worthy of participating in the government — that you are all only 
slaves. No, fellow-citizens, you are capable of being freemen ; but what 
would be the history '? This is the last great light of liberty ; we must 
win or lose forever. You may j)ut down an aristocracy — you may put 
down an oligarchy for to-day or to-morrow, or next day, but if will rear 
its head again just as long as you tind unscrupulous men to seize upon 
power: the monarch will i-aise his head and try to subjugate the weak 
that are arouml him — to destroy our free republican government to-day, 
and what will be its future history ? Ay, when your children's chilihvn 
and my children's children come to read the history of to-tlay, they will 
look back up(m the Ameri<'an Republic as the best government in the 
gi'eatest country that ever existed upon the face of God's earth. The 
historian will say, that (here wei-e about live millions of white men south 
of JSIason and Dixon's line, backeil up by four millions of slaves, and these 
people made war upon !i democracy of eighteen miUion.»5, and they whipped 
them ; they subjugated them, and bIotte<l out the brightest hope that God 
ha<l ever given the world for repviblicnn government. 



11 

The curses and execrations of every freeman would light upon you — 
upon the men that lived in this day. They would say that they struggled 
feebly for a short time, but that copperheads and peace-party-men, who, 
actuated by a desire for political office, rose up and broke down the force 
of all the eighteen millions of people. But, my fellow-citizens, if you 
should triumph in a very shoi't time, it will be this, that in the United 
States there are four hundred thousand slaveholders, and that these slave- 
holders attempted to overthrow the great democratic American nation — 
they attempted to overthrow it by the cry of '' Abolition, abolition ;" that 
the freemen of America were not to be frightened by any such cry, but 
that they rose in the strength and power of their might and overthrew 
their slaves. And what is to become of the slaves ? Are you going to 
subjugate the master and return to him his property? [Voices, "No, 
nevei-."] That is the question that is to be decided. They have decided 
that democracy and slavery are incompatible. I say they have decided it ; 
the freemen of America never did decide it, but the slaveholder has de- 
cided it. He has initiated the war upon that hypothesis ; he has predica- 
ted his whole case upon that single issue ; he has said he could overthrow 
the whole government. Now, is he able to do it ? It is for you to say 
whether he shall or not ; it is for you, the people of the North, to say it. 
I tell you, as sure as there is a God in heaven, and a just God, too, if the 
people of the North don't bestir themselves they Avill overthrow it. I tell 
you they are overthrowing it. 

God never intended — he is too just to intend — that a people should be 
a great and free people, enjoying all the institutions that we enjoy, as we 
do enjoy them, when they are attacked by four hundred thousand traitors ; 
if they don't vindicate their rights he does not intend they shall be free. I 
would to God that every copperhead north of Mason and Dixon's line could 
be made a slave, because he is hghting against the rights of the poor white 
man ; he is fighting against the rights of the man who labors, the man 
who develops the country — he is fighting against those who are the great 
bulwarks of our nation, and he ought to be a slave. [" That's so," and 
applause.] He ought to be ranked with a traitor ; he is no better than one, 
he is not as good. Jeff. Davis to-day spurns him and tells him, " We 
won't have your peace offers, we despise you." How does he look — how 
does he feel ! Despised among the freemen of the North, despised by the 
aristocracy of the South — poor devil ! he will nestle in the grass and 
every man shall put his heel upon him. [Laughter and loud cheers.] I 
wish to God that my voice would stand it, as I would like to tell you a good 
many tilings in connection Avith this subject. But all I have got to say is, 
that I represent now a part of Virginia that is loyal. ["Good," and applause 
and three' cheers for free Virginia ; groans for Carlisle.] In, a vote of 48,000 
in 1860, that was cast for President of the United States, a vote was taken 
the other day for the freedom of West Virginia from slavery. There were 
30,000 out of that 48,000 that voted for the freedom of West Virginia 
[che&rs], and out of that same boundary there are 12,000 troops in the rebel 
army, and there is not a corporal's guard left of the last. I tell you 
we commenced reorganizing the government of Virginia when they at- 
tempted to pass the ordinance of secession, and throw around them the 
arms of the South and bring into subjection the Union men of Virginia. 
We rebelled against them ; we took liold of the old goverument and reor- 



78 

ganized it, and by the gi*ace of God and the assistance of the President, 
and the strong arm of the troops, I intend to make every man in the state 
of Virginia, bearing office, swear to support the Constitution of the United 
States. [Cheers.] Our oath goes this wise : " dealing under license," 
that embraces all merchants ; it embraces all tavern keepers, all coffee- 
house keepei's, all ollicers of municipal corporations, every minister of the 
gospel who celebrates the rites of matrimony, and every bank officer — 
president, director, clerk, or cashier. Wo recpiire them to take an oath, 
without any mental reservation, that they will support the Constitution of 
the United States and the restored government ot Virginia, as vindicated 
by the Wheeling Convention, which assembled on the lllli of June, 18G1. 
And if you had a little of that kind of thing in New York it would not 
hurt you : 1 would hold up to you all editors of newspapers. Fellow- 
citizens, I thank you for your attention. Probably my throat will get 
stronger ; this is not the last time I will be in New York. I hope in God 
that Charleston may have our flag waving over it to-day ; and in prospect 
of that, I propose three cheers for our army and navy. [Three cheers 
were given with a will.] 

General Sigel : I had some intercourse with Governor Pierpont, and as 
he was so friendly to introduce me to you, I wish to say something that I 
had forgotten before. He wrote letters to me in regard to his men, his 
boys of V'irginia ; and from the first moment to the last of our communica- 
tion, I have found that he is a man of sound principles, that he is just, 
and that he does not care whether he has do with somebody Avho was bom 
in this land or with a little Dutchman, [l^aughter and cheers.] 

Dr. liiEBEK : You have just heard a Southerner speak in favor of the 
Union and for our country, and you have heard a German by birth speak 
ill favor of it. I now propose to read to you some resolutions regarding 
another great noble southern Union man, who has just died. The infor- 
mation of his death has just reached us. I mean James Louis Petigru, 
who was one of the most distinguished, one of tlie most learned, anil one 
of the bravest men that ever graced the citizenship of the United States. 
He remained true in the time of nullification, and now in time of rebellion 
he was the only openly professed Union man in South Carolina. 1 trust 
that you will adopt Nvith great cheer and good will the resolutions which 
will be read to you. 

The rc'^olutions (which arc herewith given) were seconded by Mr. C. E. 
Detmoi.d, and unanimously adopted. 

Whereas, We, loyal citizens assembled in Union Square, New York, on the 
11th April, 1.%.!, have heard witii deep sorrow tliut James Louis Petigru, of 
Charleston, Soutli Carolina, has departed from lliis life; therefore, 

Iltsulvt-d, That we will ever cherisli the spotless name of this loyal citizen, 
who has set us a bright e.xamplo of unwavering fidelity and fortitude, in ad- 
horin;^ to his country and her sacred cause, with a largo mind, untainted by 
uurrow state jiridi", free from sectional j)r('jndice and proof against the errors 
peculiar to liis native portion of the country. 

Jicsulvcil, That, born and educated in South Carolina; gifted with talents 
which entillt'il him to the hi^^liost positions coveted hy ainhition ; atknowledj^ed 
by all to he tlio j^rcatost jurist and counsellor in his whole state; of a genial 
as woll a.s an asnirinj; temper, fittted to enjoy the amenities of friendship and 
inspiriting popularity ; aware that liis interests were not lying on the side ho 
had chosen ; cuuscious that ho wanted but a sphere of action to bo a states- 



79 

man. he nevertheless preferred to give up every advantage and tie, and to re- 
main a patriot of devoted rectitude and political simplicity. 

Resolved, That, in the unhappy period of nullification James Louis Petigru 
was the acknowledged leader of the Union men in Charleston ; and now, in 
the dire period of civil war, when his impassioned state pronounced herself, by 
an overwhelming declaration, against the country, he alone, of all prominent 
citizens, remained faithful to the last moment of his life, as a lonely rock in the 
midst of au angry sea is lashed in vain by the frenzied turmoil of storm and 
■wave. 



SPEECH OF HON. MONTGOMERY BLAIR. 

Postmaster-General Blair was introduced to the assemblage. He said : 

Fellow-Citizens : 1 have already raised my voice on the other side of 
the square in behalf of the cause we have assembled here this afternoon to 
cheer and support. I do not believe that I can furnish another quadrant of 
you with an address on this occasion ; but I am happy to see the working- 
men of New York turn out to sustain the workingman's cause. This, my 
friends, is not the cause of the high classes ; it is not the cause of the 
great ; it is the cause of the workingmen of the country. It is to sustain 
a government which has been beneficent, which has given free homes, which 
has educated the poor and elevated the masses. It is their cause; and in 
such a cause as that, the workingmen of the country, of all countries, ought 
to give their hands and hearts on this and on all other occasions. My 
fi'iends, the aristocratic classes, the oligarchic interest — they understood 
from the first tap of the drum, from the first gun fired at Charleston — they 
knew in whose cause that action was begun [" Hear, hear," and applause], 
and it is responded to from the other side of the water. From the day 
that gun was fired, from the first tap of that drum when they reared the 
rattlesnake flag under the palmetto, the rattlesnake is abroad, and all that 
oligarchic interest with one united voice led the new government to break 
up the government of the United States. The people of the United States 
were slow to believe that a fratricidal hand could be raised to strike down 
a government which had shed nothing but good upon everybody and 
thi'oughout the civilized world ; but now, my friends, you are rallying, now 
you are coming up to the mark, now your friends across the waters are 
responding to the voices of Cobden and Bright ; they feel that this is the 
workingman's cause throughout all lands — not only the land of the Union, 
but the lands abroad. [Applause.] 

Now, my friends, we must be unfaltering. This is a struggle that has 
been going on from the beginning. It was begun in '76, the era when we 
fovmded this government. The aristocratic interest abroad are now send- 
ing forth piratical vessels to break down American commerce ; all that is 
fm-nished by the oligarchic interest in foreign lands to assail free govern- 
ment, the home of the oppressed of all hinds. On the other side, you see 
that instinctively the people begin to understand in Europe, as well as in 
America, that they have an interest in this cause, and they are coming up 
to the work nobly. My friends, I do not despair. I know w^e will go 
through it ; I know we will put down the rebellion and traitors ; it is not 
given by God that a beneficent institution like tbis shall perish in tliis age 
and in this era. [Cheers.] 



80 

SPEECH OF WEIL VOX GERNSBACII. 

Mr. Weil Von Gernsbach was then introduced. He said in German : 

Fellow-Citizens : The people of New York have assembled to-d;iy in 
mass meeting, in order — as is their right and duty — to look after the house- 
hold of the nation and to consult on the situation of public affairs. You 
will find many tilings wrong ; and, in fact, many things are wrong. The 
loyal people of this country have before them an armed, terrible and en- 
raged enemy of their greatness and unity ; and behind and beside them 
gather thousands of sneaking traitors, to wrest the arms out of their hands, 
and to deliver them defenceless to the enemy. [Cheers.] "What a sad, 
what a revolting spectacle for the friend of this country and of liberty ! 
Two years ago, at the outbreak of the civil war, when the peojde of the 
free states, full of indignation at the affront to the nation, rushed to arms 
in order to oppose a wall of bra-ss to the onset of the slave power, these 
men raised a deafening noise, boasted of their loyaltj', of their love for 
freedom, of their hatred against the rebels, of their devotion to the Union. 
But no sooner had a few disa.sters befallen the national armies, than they 
completely changed front, and for the past eighteen months their represent- 
atives in the state legislatures, their orators, their politicians, tht-ir jour- 
nalists have had nothing better to do than to keep up an unceasing dunun- 
ciation of the govenmient, its agents, its ollicers, and the generals [ap- 
plause] who are devoted to the popular cause. Indeed it is a sad work 
wiiieh the pre^s of this party has undertaken to perlbrm. No expres- 
sion is too vulgar, no abusive term too coarse for them to fling day after 
day against the head of the nation and against his first olhcers and coun- 
cillors. Instead of enlightening the people, of teaching and encouraging 
them, these men check its energy, mislead its sentiments, and poison public 
opinion. 

Fellow-cilizens, this infamous conduct of the press is a disaster of in- 
calculable consecjuence, a disaster greater than is generally as.-umed ; and 
1 will tell you why. The lirst condition of the perj)etuiiy and the i)rosper- 
ity of a democratic republic is the respect of the people for the laws which 
they them.'^elves have made, and lor the authorities which they tliemselves 
have constituted. Now, let me tell you, gentlemen, Kuropeans, and in 
particular we Germans, can appreciate this respect, which native Amer- 
icans possess to ."^o high a degree. [Applause.] It is a fruit of their edu- 
cation, and lias become with them a habit. Even an unpopular otlicer 
they demand to see respected and even to an unpopular law they submit 
readily, because they know tliat both can be removed by lawful moans. 
IJut, lellow-citizens, at pr&«etit a part of the press seems to have made it 
its task to root out .systematically, by coaree, vulgar abuse, and by un- 
measured faiilt-linding, this respect lor law, and thus to underinine the very 
foundation of the republic. 'Ihey know not, these deluded men, that they 
are using a two-edged sword which, at the first opportuiiiiy, may be turned 
against thenL 

Ixjt me now also say a word, as a (Jernian to Germans, on oiu" German 
press. Some of our journalis;s have sunk so deep, are so cos ered with 
disgrace, have played so deep in the mire of infamy, that they sei/.e of this 
mire, in which they are comi)letely imbedded, and lling it at the best of 



81 

men ; yea, even at a long-tried frienrl of freedom, the ornament of the 
German population — our gallant General Sigel. Such are the consequen- 
ces, if men serve a bad cause. And what a cause is it that these people 
serve ? Divested of all phraseology, of all secondary questions, the combat 
which now devastates this country is nothing else than the combat of free 
labor against the large-landed property system [cheers] ; the battle of the 
oppressed against the oppressor, of the starving against the aristocracy, of 
the laborers against the privileged idlers — in one word, of the world-con- 
trolling idea of freedom against the disgraceful institution of slavery. [Ap- 
plause.] In such a combat, can German men, German laborers, thinking, 
intelligent men of moral education, hesitate one moment on which side 
they must stand '? Many of you have already fought the same combat 
over before. The revolution which for the last seventy years has been 
going the rounds of Europe, is substantially nothing else ; for the so-called 
rights of the princes and of the crown, if historically reduced to their 
origin, what are tiiey but the arrogated rights of the large-landed proprie- 
tors? [Applause.] How can Europeans, how can Germans, prostitute 
themselves by aiding in an attempt to deliver over this country, bound 
and chained, to the slave power? The government has committed faults, 
has shown weakness ; we do not deny or conceal it. But consider the 
extraoidinary situation of the men at the helm of the nation, and you will 
not be harsh in your judgment. Do not forget, in pai'ticular, that a large 
portion of the disasters which have befallen us, rests on the shoulders of 
incapable and unsound-minded generals. 

" Peace ! peace!" our opponents cry. But what peace do they want? 
A peace with everlasting disgrace or an honorable peace? A disgraceful 
peace they can have any time. Tell the army to cast away their arms, 
give Washington to the rebels, proclaim Jefferson Davis President for 
life, extend slavery over the entire continent, catch the runaway negroes 
and return them to their masters, abolish liberty of the press and of speech, 
submit to the Montgomery Constitution, and deprive the free laborer in the 
Northern states of his right of suffrage — then you have peace, the peace 
of the copperheads, the peace of the grave, the peace of infixmy and moral 
self-destruction. [Cheers.] But if, on the other hand, you want an honor- 
able peace, you must conquer it by force of arms — there is no other way. 

This land, America, the home of freedom, has given the signal for the 
combat once before, and France and Europe followed. To-day Amer- 
ica gives the signal once more. It is a holy war, and be assured the signal 
will have again world-shaking consequences. Sooner or later, when the 
fulness of time is come, the people of France will again sit in judgment 
over its oppressors and tyrants, and outraged Germany will rise, and 
wrathful Italy, and bleeding Poland, and downtrodden Hungary, and they 
will begin the holy war — the last war. [Great applause.] 

Be ye therefore united, German men ; support with your whole strength 
the holy cause, your own cause. Victory is not doubtful, and we will carry 
the standard of victory everywhere — into the huts of the opi)iesscd poor 
throughout the civilized world. Do not overestimate the power of our 
enemies in the North. By their designs, tendencies, aims, and acts, they 
have forfeited the name of a political party. They form only a gang of 
miscreants, under whose feet the ground akeady begins to give way. [Con- 
tinued applause.] 

6 



82 
The meeting was then effectively addressed, in German, by Dr. F()rsch : 

SPEECH OF DR. VORSCH, 

When I, after a long silence, again appear before the public a? an 
orator, I have to confers, that the importance of the present condition of 
our country has induced me. But do not think that I speak to you as a 
partisan. I address you as a citizen of the United States, as a member 
of our great Union. All party questions must be laid aside at pnsent, 
and the only question is, Sliall our Union be preserved or shall she be 
gathered into fragments ; shall we become the mocking-stock of tlie Euro- 
pean despots, or sliall we preserve the respect of all nations as an undi- 
vided nation ? for I am convinced that this large audience will agree with 
the v.ords of our immortal Andrew Jackson: "Our Union must and shall 
be preserved, in peace if Ave can, by war if we must !" 

I may boldly assert, my American fellow-citizens, that no heart can 
beat warmer for the safety of our Union and the preservation of our liberty 
than the heart of a true German. Having struggled in vain in the old 
country for freedom and human rights, overjiowered by the mighty ai'is- 
tocracy and despotism, this Union tiie only asylum of the oppressed, the 
only refuge of the persecuted, gave us a home. And yet this great "Union 
is the star of hope for all the oppressed nations in the Old "\\''orld. But, 
alas ! treacherous hands have shaken the pillars of our holy temple, and 
perfidious sons threaten to trample under their own feet their good mother, 
wlio gave them independence and all welfare, our glorious Union. No, 
no, never shall tliis be done, and as long as there runs a drop of Ger- 
man blood in our veins we will stand bravely on the side of true Ameri- 
cans, and fight man to man for our great Union, till the last enemy is 
conquered. 

We will fight this battle on the political arena also. Politics are to the 
Gennan nut a mere "business to suit a selfish interest, or to get some foot 
at tJie public crib, but an earnest atlair to save the people's rights, to 
promote tlie people's welfare, to guarantee to the people their liberty, and 
for all to preserve our great Union one and indivisible. And if tiie day 
of election shall arrive, the Germans will not meet under any party Hag, 
but look to tliat glorious banner on wliich is written: "The Union shall 
and must be preserved !" 

On the battle-field we see bravely fight our German soldiers for our 
righteous cause. Tiiey laid aside all party questions as the trumpet of 
•war sounded, and rallied with one mind and one heart under the flag of 
our Union. And if we are justly proud of a Stt-uben, l)e Kalb, Mulilen- 
berg, and others, as heroes in our lu'vohition, and who had liel| ed to 
lay the corner-stone of our Union, we mention nt>w with ecjual pride a 
»Sigel, Max Weber, and others, bravely fighting for the preservation t)f the 
holy inheritance of our forefiithers. So we feel ourselve» a common broth- 
erhood, and we say in tlic words of a Lafayette: ''This i-ed, whiti-, and 
blue, must make its journey around tiie worhl ! " 

I will now close, and 1 liope to speak in the name of the gre:\ter part 
of my Gernjan l)retiuen if 1 way, "Our watchword is Union and Con.sti- 
tution, and oin- eoiuitersign is Liberty to all! So we assemble around 
the old flag and say : 

" Tlie Hlnr-spiin^lctl hnnner, oli ! lonij iiifty it wave 
Over tlio Ittud of the free aud tlie liuuio of the brave.'' 



OFFICERS. 



STAND NO. 4r. 

Under charge of Committee of Arrangements, 



FEANKLIN H. DELANO, 
GEORGE P. PUTNAM, 



EOBEET B. MINTUEN, Jr. 
SYDNEY HOWAED GAY. 



President. 

CHAELES KING. 



Vice-Presidents . 



A. W. Bradford, 
Albert R. Gallatin, 
Thomas W. Gierke, 
John E. Williams, 
George Folsom, 
John R. Brady, 
Charles A. Hecksher, 
Ezra Nye, 
Richard Upjohn, 
Samuel B. Ruggles, 
Theodore G. Glaubenskee, 
Luther Bradish, 
William Aufferman, 
Caleb B. Spicer, 
Frederick H. Wolcott, 
Eugene S. Ballard, 
Eli White, 
George F. Tallman, 
William Astor, 
C. Y. Wemple, 
Joseph T. Duryea, 
George L. Schuyler, 
Julius Brill, 
Adam W. Spies, 
George F. Allen, 
John J. Phelps, 
S. S. Wyckoff, 
John T. Henry, 
William C. Rhinelander, 
Wm. Hall, 
Samuel S. Sands, 
Nathan Chandler, 



John Kress, 
Peter Brunges, 
David Dows, 
Edward Burns, 
J. B. Cornell, 
Sigismund Waterman, 
John T. Henry, 
Henry D. Sedgwick, 
Charles S. Messenger, 
Simeon Draper, 
John C. Brant, 
Jonathan Thorne, 
Jacob A. Westervelt, 
John Stevenson, 
John C. Hamilton, 
N. Rossman, 
Conrad Geib, 
F. M. French, 
Nathaniel W. Burtis, 
George H. Matthews, 
James G. King, 
Henry B. Smith, 
Chauncey D. Murray, 
James McKaye, 
Charles Cludius, 
Louis Nauiuann, 
A. V. Meeks, 
Hamilton Fish, 
Charles A. Moore, - 
John Brooks, 
Henry A. Heiser, 
S. Frankel, 



84 



William W. Todd, 
Francis G. Shaw, 
George Donaldson, 
Edwards Pierrepont, 
Charles B. Hoffman, 
T. H. Faile, 
John K. Myers, 
E. C. Korner, 
Charles Bruno, 



A. E. Silliman, 
Eleazar Parmly, 
James Kearney Warren, 
Amos Robbins, 
Enoch Chamberlain, 
Henry Vaudewater, 
Henry Maurer, 
Henry Bruuer, 
Fred. Schutz. 



Irving Grinnell, 
John W. Minturn, 
Washington Coster, 
Cruger Oakley, 
Edward C. Bogert, 
Temple Prime, 
Oliver K. King, 
Andrew H. Sands, 
Peter Macy, 
Brockholst Cutting, 
Nathaniel Prime, 
John Nesbitt, 
Henry J, Barbey, 



Secretaries. 

William J. Todd, 
J, Howard Williams, 
James E. Mauran, 
I. Smith Homans, Jr., 
George D. Lyman, 
William F. Cary, Jr., 
~- Theodore Roosevelt, 
Walter H. Burns, 
Frederick Sturges, 
Murray Hoffman, Jr., 
Edward S. Renwick, 
Frank Shepherd, 
William J. Emmett. 



PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 



STAND No. 4. 

NORTHWEST CORNER OF UNION SQUARE.. 

Salutes of Artillery by the workmen employed by Henry Breivster ^ Co. 

1. Grand March from " Le Propliete," of Meyerbeer, by Robertson's Grand 

Band. 

2. Charles King, of the Council of the Loyal National League, will call the 

meeting to order. 

3. Prayer, by Rev. Roswell D. Hitchcock. 

4. George P. Putnam, of the Executive Committee, will read the call for the 

meeting, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. Franklin H. Delano will read the address adopted by the Council and Ex- 

ecutive Committee on Lectures and Addresses. 

6. Robert B. Minturn, Jr., will read the resolutions, 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Major-General Fremont will address the meeting. 

9. Music — singing : " The Army Hymn." By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

10. Roscoe Conkling will address the meeting. 

11. Music — singing : " The Star-Spangled Banner." 

12. George W. Julian will address the meeting. 

13. Music — singing : " Song for the Loyal National League," written expressly 

for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

14. W. J. A. Fuller will address the meeting. 

15. George P. Putnam will read an original poem, entitled " Those Seventy 

Men." Written expressly for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

16. Music — singing : " Ouf Union." Written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street. 



86 



Charles King, of the Council of the Loyal National League, called 
the meeting to order, and the proceedings were opened by prayer by the 
Rev. KoswELL D. Hitchcock. 

After the reading of the lists of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries, 
and of the Address and Resolutions, and the special resolutions on 
the death of Judge Petigru of Charleston, S. C. , the chairman, Mr. 
King, introduced Major-General John C. Fkemoxt in the following 
words : 

I am now about to present to you one who has a right to claim your 
attention — for he has shown his devotion to his country by leading her sol- 
diers to the field, and by encountering — what is worse than armed hosts — 
the prejudices of lukewarm men, halt' and half friends and patriots — men 
who, if they had their way, would make a compromise to-morrow with 
slavery and all its horrors, and who now, under the guise of peace, would 
make useless, or worse than useless, the treasures of blood spilled by your 
children and mine to vindicate the glorious flag which rebels Avonld tram- 
ple down. [Cheers.] Fellow-citizens, I present to you Major-General 
Fremont. 

Gen. Fremont was greeted with a burst of enthusiasm which contiimed 
some minutes. Quiet being restored, be said : 

SPEECH OF GEN. FREMONT. 

Fellow-citizens : I had the honor of being asked to meet you here to- 
day, and to address you. 1 accepted the invitation for the pleasure it gave 
me to meet you, and for the further satisfaction I would have in using the 
occasion to say how fully and how cordially I sympathize \vith you in the 
objects of this meeting. Two years ago you met here and accepted the 
war inaugiu'ated on tiiis memorable day at Fort Sumter. [Cheers.] To- 
day, again, the noise of battle rolls around that monumenttd fort, and we 
are hourly awaiting to hear the thundir of the guns which siiall announce 
that at length our outraged Hag has been gloriously avenged. [Applause.] 
But wliatever may be the fortune of the day, no anniversary could have been 
found more fitting to renew your pledges that there shall be no wavering in 
your su])i>(irt of tlie government, no faltering in the purpose of tiie North 
to restore and maintain, undivided and free to all, the whole territory of 
the United States of America. [Apphuise.] The public as.«emblagos, of 
whidi this is tlie lirst, are intendetl to draw together and to give elfect and 
voice to tlie opinions and feelings of tiie people on the great ([ueslion of the 
day. We welcome thtse manilestations as the evidence of heulliiy activity 
in the pul)lic mind. Tliey indicate unmistakably that the nation is not 
drifting, liut ni<iviiig with a fixed and resolute purpose; that n feeling of 
uncunditiiinal luyalty is rapidly absorbing all varieties of opinion, ;'.nd fu- 
sing all party distinctions into the single resolve to preserve our natioiuil 
unity, at every cost. [Applause.] 15ut while permitting myself the ple:vft- 
ure of meeting you here and taking part in this comnirmoration, 1 have 
declinc(l to avail njy.sclf of the invitation with which I had been honored 



8Y 

to address you. The subjects on which I had been asked to speak required 
a scope of comment and suggestion, in which I do not feel at liberty to in- 
dulge. I decline to do so in deference to the commonly received opinion 
that a certain official propriety prohibits officers of the army and navy from 
speaking in popular assemblies. But more especially I decline to do so 
because I was informed, not very long since, that officers permitting them- 
selves to take part in public affairs outside of their professional duties, had 
been characterized by high authority as "political generals." [Laughter.] 
But in giving away to this usage, I am not at all satisfied that it is the 
correct view of the scope of an officer's duty in this country, and amidst 
the disorders of a civil war. Under other forms of government, where the 
head of the nation shapes and directs its policy, and where the agents and 
the people themselves simply conform, this suppressed freedom of speech, 
where it must have expression, necessarily takes the form of a revolt, and is 
consequently more incompatible with the public tranquillity. But in this 
country, where there is really such a thing as public affairs upon which the 
nation deliberates, and where the vitality of the system depends upon the 
fact that every man is expected to take a living interest in them, the case 
is widely different. Here the government simply executes the will of the 
people, to which is is expected strictly to conform, and concerning which 
it ought, consequently, to be well informed. [Applause.] The militaiy 
power is only an executive arm of the sovereign in this country — the peo- 
ple ; and instead of forming that military power into a distinct and sepa- 
rate class, and creating barriers between the army and the people, every- 
thing ought to be done to keep the soldier one of them [applause], having 
common interests and common opinions. [Applause.] To isolate them 
and their sentinaents would be, or might be, highly dangerous to our free 
government, and in this country there should be no such thuig as a mili- 
tary party. [Applause.] We have lately seen with what satisfaction the 
country received the resolutions of our troops in the field — how timely and 
important was their influence — not the less because it was evident that they 
had no idea of merging into the soldier their sympathies and privileges of 
the citizens. [Applause.] And it is absurd to say that in a war of ideas, 
a conflict of principles, in a revolution which is taking the shape of a refor- 
mation — a revolution which involves the civilization of the age, and to the 
results of which the friends of liberty are looking with the deepest anxiety 
and in every part of the world ; in all this momentous struggle, that the 
men most actively concerned, taking the most active part and making the 
costliest sacrifices, should have no opinion. It is idle to tell us that the 
opinions of officers in important places have no influence on the conduct 
and the results of the war. Nor does it always happen that a general has 
the choice to render his service to the country in the more congenial duties 
of the field ; he may be placed in charge of a distant and rebellious prov- 
ince, separated, disconnected from the seat of the government by the con- 
ditions of the war, and where necessarily he must be much governed by his 
own convictions and his own opinions. Would it reflect — does it reflect — 
on the soldiery qualities of that general that he had the ability to institute 
a policy which enabled him, in the midst of rebellion and anarchy, to hold 
in subjection to the laws and to reduce into good order and healthy pro- 
priety, and to restore its commercial relations to the Union, the great me- 
tropolis of the South ? [Applause.] Men who, by uniting with you here 



88 



two years ajro, subjected themselves to the charge of being political generals, 
have sealed with tlieir lives their devotion to this cause. [Apphiu<e.J 
Then Schenck and Mitchel and liaker spoke to you here, [Applause.] 
The one has given his blood and the others their lives in your service. 
[Applau?e.] Were they the less good soldiers because they came to you 
here, on the eve of battle, to get ins[)iration and to find encouragement and 
renewed strength in the a^suiar.ces of your support? [Applause an<l cries 
of " No."] It is not here that the name of " political general'' can be con- 
sidered a stigma or a discpialitication. [Applause.] Already shadows be- 
gin to people this place, and the spot has become classic ground. Two 
years ago this was one among the many beautiful openings which decorate 
your city. You had no Bunker Hill to serve as a field-altar of patriotism. 
In this splendid city — this radiating centre of the material prosperity of 
the country, there Avas wanting the traditionid spot in sight of which no 
man could, without f-hanie, fall below the spirit of the day which gave it 
an historic fame. [Applause.] But here already you have sermons in 
these stones — tliere you have your field-altar. [Cheers.] In sight of that 
statue of AVashington you come here to-day to renew your pledges — you 
promise that in his hand, which two years ago held up to your indignant 
gaze your discarded and outraged flag, you will yet place the standard 
which shall be raised in victory over the walls of Sumter. [Great ap- 
plause.] You promise that you will never agree to a dismemberment of 
the countiy which he left you [Voices, "Never," and applause]; and that 
next to the crime of the traitors who are striking in arms at the life of the 
nation, you will hold the guilt of those men who, placed in responsible po- 
sitions, do not use every eftbrt to direct, with most terrible energy, the 
power of this country to destroy the rebellion. [Tremendous cheering, 
and three times three cheers for Gen. Fremont.] 

The CiiAiKMAN : I now, fellow-citizens, present to you one of our own 
representatives — a man who has proved that bullying could not hurt him. 
He was a member of Congress wdien this great crime was committed, and 
the experiment was tried on him which has been tried on others, l)y some 
of the yellow-faced Southern chivalry — to bully him, by talk of pistols 
and bowie-knives. He told them, " liy the grace of (Jod, I carry my de_ 
fenders here (pointing to his breast), and if any man wants to fight let him 
come on." [V^ehement cheers.] I present to you Mr. Koscoii Conkung- 

Loud apl)lause greeted Mr. CoNKUN<i, who said : 

Sl'KECII (»1" Tin: HON. KOSCOK COXKI-INT.. 

Mu. CiiMu.MAN ASM) KKi.i.ow-CmzKNs : You have jussembled to com- 
memorate an event which must be memorable in history to I lie latest syl- 
lable of recorded time. You celebrate an anniVvTSJiry which will be can- 
onized, or curswl. till the holiest fountains of hnman sentiment are for- 
ever frozen or dried up. You solemnize the recurix^nce of a day which will 
stand in tlie calendar hereafter, as the day wiiich made manifest the noth- 
ingness or immortality of human rights. [Cheers.] The 12th of April, 
18G1, wa-s a day of darkncKs and despair; our sun w.as edipsed, and no 



89 

man could see to read the dial. It was a day of humiliation and death 
but through that death there came a glorious resuiTection and ascension. 

" When Sumter f' 11, 

You, and I. and all of us fell down, 

And bloody treason flourished over us." [Cheers.] 

But two years have passed — two years " of plots and counterplots, of gain 
and loss, of gloiy and disgrace" — and undismayed and undaunted, you 
come to say to doubters and to enemies, as William Tell said to his native 
mountaineers : "^ 

" "We hold to you the hands you first beheld, 
To show they still are free." 

It seems to be a maxim in the economy of Providence, that the trials of 
a nation are in the ratio of its destinies. If it be poor and powerless, if 
it have no empire and holds no position envied by the world, it may escape 
the blasts of war, and languish for long intervals in unmolested calmness. 
But if it be rich and powerful, if it claim as its own one tenth of tlic globe 
if in the lifetime of a single man it grows to be the foremost power in al 
the earth, it must accept perils and struggles as the price of its greatnes 
and success. 

If besides being powerful, a people has set up institutions in which no 
trace of aristocracy or kingcraft is tolerated, it has voluntarily elected to 
make its own soil the theatie of a contest which has been wnging since 
time began, between oppression and liberty. It is the mission and fore- 
ordained destiny of a people assuming to found and maintain a democratic 
government, to wrestle and grapple with the foes of freedom and equality 
within and without ; and the struggle now raging in America, is only the 
old battle for human rights transplanted from the Old World to the 
New. [Applause.] We had no right to expect to escape it. 

Why should we "? 

Why should we hope to elude the evil passions and instincts which have 
led men the world over to seek the destruction of equal rights, and the 
aggrandizement of the few at the expense of the many ? 

We knew that nowhere had men relinquished superior and exclusive 
privilege without a contest ; why should they do it here — here in the New 
World, the place reserved for republican government to vindicate itself for- 
ever, or to wither from the world ? 

Time and civilization and government had their morning not in the west 
but in the east. Dawn tiuslied, and yet centuries rolled by before light 
broke upon the western continent. 

Why was this ? 

Why was half the globe kept hidden away behind a trackless waste of 
waters, till the other half had been dug over and over, to bury its dead? 
Why were progress and barbarism mewed up so long in the Old World, to 
solve in blood the problems of humanity ? 

Perhaps the New World was reserved till mankind should be fitted for a 
higher and better dispensation. 

Perhaps it was designed to withhold this inheritance from man till the 
race had been tried and instructed, and exalted by the wisdom and the 
folly, the virtues and the vices of wasted ages. 



90 

If tliis was the design, we can understand our mission, and accept our 
responsibilities. 

If it i.^ tlie mission of the American people to make their continent a 
garden for tlie growth of a new civilization, higher and better an<l truer 
than the world has ever known, we may understand the logic which per- 
mits blood to stain our land. 

If we maintain successfully that man needs no mortal master but him- 
self, wc bring forth a great new truth, and no great truth was ever yet 
born into the world without great pangs. 

It costs great pangs to plant the germ of free government here, and the 
manner in which the experiment began, miglit well convince the mind of 
faith that Providence had chai-ge over it. The task was undertaken by a 
group of men which noi* previous age could have produced. They were 
the victims of all the bad systems of government then extant, and they 
were called to devise a new system just when the world was all ablaze 
with political intelligence. 

All the |)ast v.as before them, and the French revolution was just 
delivering its terrible message to maidiind. 

Two forms of government had already been tried here. 

The colonial system had been tested and throwji ctf. 

The confederate system has been fairly tried, and found fit to live only 
through the revolution it supported. All the membei-s of the Confederacy 
had found the need of a stronger system, closer knit. I say all — all but 
South Carolina, who put herself up to be rattled for by the contending 
parties, to belong to the British Crown or the American Kepublic, as the 
one or the other should succeed in the struggle of which she was to be the 
safe spectator. 

The Fathers of the Repultli ■, in their almost inspiration, saw clearly 
that a goveriunent, to be enduring and free, must be a union, not of states, 
but of the people, not a partnership, nor a club of thirteen members, but 
an eternal wedlock of the nation. 

They fai^hioned their work accordingly — they excluded canfuUy all 
Btate rights which would militate against the supremacy of the fetleral 
government. 

Some of their acts seem prophetic now, when ^^raen here in New York, 
" leading politicians," as Lord I.,yons calls them, are proposing to array 
the state against the general government, and to nullify the act for en- 
rolling soldieis, and other acts of Congress. 

An effort was made to put into tiie Constitution some way in which 
racn coidd op[)ose the general government, under cover of state authority, 
and yet dodj^e the halter, but the halter was carei'nlly kept in. 

Lulhcr Martin, the attoi-ney-gener;d of Maryland, went home from 
the convention and delivered to the lej:islature of his state the following 
Blatenviit, ^^hich 1 conniiend to those politicians with a snaky name, who, 
accoiding to the good book, nuist be tlu; most subtle of all the beasts 
of the Held [Idid tlrt'ors and laughter]: 

" I'y the principles of the American Revolution arbitrary power may, 
nnd ou;:lit to l)C re>ist<'d, even by arms if nece.s.«ary. The time may come 
when it ^hall be the duty of a state, in order to i)rc.serve itself from the 
oppression of the general government, to have rccour.sc to the sword : in 



91 



which case the proposed form of government declares that the state, and 
every one of its citizens who act under its authority, are guilty of a di- 
rect act of treason ; reducing by this provision the different states to this 
alternative, that they must tamely and passively yield to despotism, oi- their 
citizens must op2JOse it at the hazard of the halter if unsuccessful — and redu- 
cing the citizens of the state which shall take arms to a situation in lohich they 
must be exposed to punishment, let them act as they toill, since if they obey the 
authority of their state government, they will be guilty of treason against the 
United States ; if they join the general government they will be guilty of 
treason against their own state. 

" To save the citizens of the respective states from this disagreeable 
dilemma, and to secure them from being punishable as traitoi'S to the United 
States, Avhen acting expressly in obedience to the authority of their own 
state, 1 wished to have obtained as an amendment to the third section of 
this article, the following clause : 

" '■Provided, That no act or acts done by one or more of the states 
against the United States, or by any citizen of any one of the United 
States under the authority of one or more of the said states, shall be 
deemed treason or punished as such ; but, in case of war being levied by one 
or more of the states against the United States, the conduct of each party 
toward the other, and their adherents respectively, shall be regulated by 
the laws of war and of nations.' 

" But this provision was not adopted, being too much opposed to the 
great object of many of the leading members of the convention, which 
was by all means to leave the states at the mercy of the general govern- 
ment, since they could not succeed in their immediate and entire abo- 
lition." 

With such views the Constitution was formed, and went into operation 
over a country infinitely diversified in soil, climate, and production. 

The attractive portion of the republic was the South. Its breezes were 
bland, its climate was almost perpetual summer, its soil needed only to be 
tickled with a hoe to laugh with a harvest. All these ciiarms had enticed 
the rich, the indolent, and the idle. The seat of population, and allowed 
representation in Congress upon its chattels, of course it became the seat 
of political power. For three quarters of a century it ruled the country 
absolutely, and enjoyed almost a monopoly of public honoi'S. 

But it relied upon unskilled, unpaid labor, and there was the bane of its 
success. Though it started with everything, it was outstripped by free 
labor, which started with nothing. 

Political questions continually arose, and ^were always decided for and 
by the South. While this continued, the South was quiet, apparently, 
yet ever plotted against the time when decisions might result in favor of 
other sections of the country. At last that time arrived for once. [Ap- 
plause.] A President, not of Southern cl loosing, was elected. What of 
that'? Did the leading managing men of the South fear that their rights 
or their slaves would be taken from thera ? I deny it. After some asso- 
ciation, in Congress and out of it, witli tho^e who plunged the South into 
rebellion, I deny that they for a moment feared that Abraham Lincoln 
would or could disturb their institutions. 

But there was another thing they did fear. Their personal arabitton 



would be thwarted, and also their plans for prostituting the government 
for the benefit of tlieir own " section," as they called it. 

Tlie time had come when they and their sons could no longer hold all 
the offices, civil and military, at home and abroad, and when they could 
no longer manage the foreign and home policy of the government, so as to 
pick a quarrel with anybody who happened to have an island or anything 
else that they wanted to steal. [Cheers.] 

They were to be deprived of these things if they stayed in the Union ; 
if they went out, they saw visions of new wealth and power. A new 
empire in the tropics dazzled their eyes. An unlimited and unrestrained 
license to steal land from feeble neighbors on the South, and to plant it 
with slavery, the reopening of the slave trade to Christianize the barba- 
rians of Africa — these and kindred objects seemed to them preferable to 
remaining in a government in which they must at last divide the monop- 
oly they had enjoyed. Fair play is what tliey rebelled against ; equality 
is what they couldn't endure; free government put into actual practice 
is what they would not submit to, and they made a bloody issue to de- 
stroy it. 

Is not this the old fight over again, the encounter once more between 
equal rights and privileges, the dying kick of despotism ? 

Surely it is; and with an aristocratic element in tlie government, it was 
bound to come. You could not check the laws of growth in the North, 
nor of decay in the South ; and hence, in time, the balance of power 
was sure to change. This was inevitable, and yet the minority would 
not loosen their hol<l without dipi)ing their hands in the blood of their 
country. 

I laid down the proposition that the trials of a nation must be gauged 
by its destinies, and is it not clear that our destiny lelt us no course 
except to resist to the uttermost the bloody raid which we ai'e still re- 
pelling ? 

The patriotism of the people answered that question two years ago to- 
day. General Jackson believed that there was a deity and divinity in 
ma.s.-cs of men — that whatever a nation alfinned to be true must be immu- 
table truth. [Cheers.] Never, perhaps, was there a stronger proof of the 
quick ini'allibility of a people's instinct, than when the heart of America 
vibrated with the news that traitors had battered Sumter, and trampled 
on the flag. [Apphiuse,] Did any man among you si)eak of submission 
or sejjaration at that time ? No ; tho.se who could not spciik for their 
country then were dumb — they dare not .«peak for treason. 

They dare not consort with the ambassador of a Ibreign power, to be- 
tray tlieir country then. They dare not hawk at their government then 
and assail it with the tricks of the mountebank and the pettifogger. Tub- 
lie senlimeiit would not tolenite it. AViiy does public sentiment tolerate 
it now .' 

Why docs jiublic sentiment tolerate it in tliis jjroud city, where, be.side 
all liighor motive.^, you have .^uch an enormous stake of money in the 
suprenuicy of the government? Jlcre, where two hundred millions of 
debts are due from the South, here, where you have for ten years lurni.»hcd 
ninety per cent, of alitlic' money the goNeinmeiil luus had, here, \\heie you 
hoM jjovernment secur^\es i.Mnounling to more than eighty million dollars, 
why is it that public t>c^tiniti^nt tolerates men who are doing more to help 



93 

rebellion than if they had muskets in their hands and stood within rebel 
lines'? There ought to be some good reason why loyal people are 
doomed ro put up with revilings and hypocritical lamentations and 
complaints qf men who, for the wrongs done their country, ought to 
be daily and nightly on their knees, asking forgiveness from God and the 
mourners. 

It is difficult to know what to do with such people. [A voice : " Hang 
'em ; hang 'em."] 

Mr. CoNKLiNG — -No, no. That would violate the wise advice of Dr. 
Johnson. Goldsmith asked the doctor whether a man who had disgraced 
himself wouldn't do well to cut his throat, " Why, no," said the 
doctor, '' if he has disgraced himself, let him go where he isn't known, in 
place of going to hell, where he is sure to be known." The success these 
disturbers have in misleading others, shows the justice of the saying that 
a lie will run a mile while the truth is putting on its shoes and stockings. 
Suppose their charges and statements are all true, just as they make them, 
does that justify or excuse them in the course they have pursued ? Sup- 
pose it is true that the President, and the Cabinet, and Congress, and the 
administration party have all done wrong, why should the nation be mur- 
dered, and the government destroyed for that ? 

The war is for the supremacy of the ballot-box [cheers], and it is only 
by standing by the government, and maintaining it, that we can preserve 
the ballot-box, and the ballot-box is the only means of correcting public 
abuses if they exist. If men are honest in saying that the government is 
in unfit hands, let them help to wrest it from the assassins who are aiming 
daggers at its heart ; and when this is done, the people can elect better 
and more capable men. But what reason is there in allowing the govern- 
ment to be ruined because the acts of those who happen represent it for a 
space are distasteful ? [Cheers.] If there are imperfections on the admin- ■ 
istration's head, it is no time to rebuke or punish them now. But at any 
time there is no justice in most of the clamors lately raised for political 
elFect, and I will say a word of one or two of them. 

It is charged by secession sympathizers, as one of the reasons for assail- 
ing the government, that the rebellion is the result of agitating the ques- 
tion of slavery. Suppose it is— is the North, or the anti-slavery men of 
the North, to be blamed or punished for that ? Wlio has agitated the 
slavery question in this country since ISoO? There was no agitation in 
1851 and '52, except by a few abolitionists, who hadn't votes enough to 
elect a constable from Maine to Minnesota. We had hushed all agitation 
then. We had annexed Texas to extend the area of slavery, and fought a 
bloody war, and paid three hundred millions of dollars in consequence. 
We had acquired new territories, but they had been brought in without 
any restriction against slavery. We had adopted the compromise meas- 
ures of 1850. We had given the South such boundaries as she wanted ; 
we had paid her millions, and adopted a fugitive slave law, which I heard 
Douglas tell Mason he (Mason) drew, and made as stringent as he could, 
and Mason admitted it. What was there, then, to agitate slavery for? 
In 1852 both the national conventions adopted the same platform, accept- 
ing the compromise measure as a finality, and congratulating the people 
that the end had come of slavery agitation. The nation went to sleep 
thinking the negro had been put aside, and that the legislation of the coun- 



94 

try was to be turned to its commercial, manufacturing, and material wants. 
Kepose and peace were everywhere, when suddenly there came a voice, as 
piercing as a ciy of lire in the night, and men started, as they would leap 
froni their beds to see if the house was in flames. What was it ? Why, 
the Missouri Comj)romise was to be repealed. The Missouri Compro- 
mise? That wall which our fathers built between shivery and freedom — 
that great covenant which had tranquillized a continent, and to which ev- 
ery man was pledged, and his father before him — was that to be destroyed? 
Who was to do it? Had any one in the North petitioned Congress to do 
it? No. Let us remonstrate ; let us pray Congress not to do so huge a 
wrong; not to hoii^t the flood-gates of agitation, and launch the nation 
upon a boundless sea of sectional contention. The people assembled in 
their might ; they conjured the party in power to stay its hand ; they im- 
plored the majority in Congress, by the memories of the past and the hopes 
and fears of the future ; they sent to Washington memorials which, if 
heaped together, would have barricaded Pennsylvania avenue. I5ut all 
to no purpose; the Missouri Compromise fell, and fell with acrash which 
resounds yet in this bleeding country. [Applause.] Who did it ? Who 
did it? Who did it? Who, as Mr. Fillmore said, opened the Pandora's 
box, and let loose every evil of sectional madness and strife? Did North- 
em anti-slavery men do it ? Did any anti-slavery man vote for it ? Was 
it anything but a monstrous, treasonable cheat of the slavery interest? 
[Cheers.] Who carried the torch of the incendiary and the knife of the 
murderer into the territories? Who sacked their villages anil drenched 
their fields in blood ? W^ho attempted to force slavery upon an unwilling 
peo[)le ? Who tried to force through the Lecompton constitution, foul 
with violence and fraud? Has there been any slavery agitation in this 
country for ten years not produced by the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
•niiso ? It was that repeal which gave birth to the Kepublican party, 
which filled its ranks with the members of all existing organizations, and 
gave one million three hundred thousand votes to John Charles Fremont. 
If slavery agitation has contributed to the rebellion, let the blame be where 
the truth puts it, and not on the anti-slavery men of the North. I^et us 
remember who the incendiaries are, who, after setting tire to the house, 
complain that those who come to put it out make a great fuss, and agita- 
tion, and disturbance generally. But whoever agitated, and however 
wantonly, what has that to <lo now with rescuing our government and our 
lil)('rti(S from the uplifted hantl of treason '. 

'J'liere is another wicked pretext, fashionable now with the disloyal and 
the false. It is alleged that alter secession l)ogan it might have l)een coaxed to 
stop by compromise ; and I want to mention one thing on this head to show 
how much audacity a man must have to assinne the ground held by politi- 
cians of a <'ertain school in this state. 'J hey are protesting that they were 
for eomeliiing at the time wiiich, if it had been adopted by Congre.><s, woidd 
have averted the whole dillicully. What were they for in the legislature 
at Albany? They said that the grievance of the South wa.^ that slave- 
holders were in danger of being shut out of the territories where the cli- 
mate would let slavery live, and that was the trouble to be removed. They 
had a jdan for doing it. It was called the Hobiiison proposition, and was 
urged and sup|iorled as all-sullicient by the very men who are now around 
inquiring who is responsible lor the war, and insisting that it miudit havo 



95 

beqp compromised. What was the Robinson proposition ? It proposed 
that all the territories should be cut in two by the old Missouri coinpi-omise 
line, and that all north of it should come in as a free state, and on the 
south slavery should take its chance ; and whenever the territory filled up 
with the number of people I'equired for a representative in Cono-ress. it 
should come in as a state. This was the panacea commended them in New 
York by those who now oppose the war. Now let me remind you that 
the political friends of tlie present administration offered the South twice as 
much as the Robinson proposition, and it was spurned. We offered them 
all the territory where slavery could flourish, and offered it without condi- 
tion. We offered to admit all as a state with slavery, if it came with 
slavery in its constitution, to admit it at once, Avithout waiting for a white 
man to move into it, and without any stipulation or understanding that 
any Northern territory should come in free. The territory thus to be sur- 
rendered to slavery was free by the lav/s of Mexico. You will see the dif- 
ference ; the Robinson proposition required that the Nortii sliould liave, as 
an offset, the half of the territory free, and admitted as a state, and further, 
that the South should not form its territory into a state until, in lapse of 
time, the census showed 1 10,000 people there ; whereas the proposition 
offered to the South in Congi-ess said nothing about the Nortli having any 
share, and did not require an hour's delay nor any number of population 
whatever. Yet the Robinson resolution was thought enough to offer by 
the same men who now claim that reasonable offers would have been ac- 
cepted. They know that nothing would have been accepted except the 
prostration of the government. They know that the Crittenden compro- 
mise was defeated by Southern votes in the Senate, as Gov. Johnson stated 
the other night at your Academy of Music, and as Edward Everett affirmed 
in Boston day before yesterday. But, again, what difference does it make 
now whether or not if we had done something some other time, something 
else wouldn't have happened ? There is another plea for opposing the war, 
which I see is done not only into speeches, but into poetry, here now. It 
is that the government party is laboring not to restore the Union, but to 
emancipate all the slaves, even if so doing prevents a restoration. This 
is believed by some fools, perhaps by some knaves, and possibly by some 
honest people, but they must be rather pig-headed. It ought not to be be- 
lieved or countenanced by any who sympathize with our soldiers in the 
field, and want to see them spared hardship or exposure. When the war 
began it was supposed that slavery would be an element of weakness to our 
enemies — that the fear of servile insurrection among four millions of bond- 
men would keep part of the masters at home. We had a rrj.ht to think 
so. John Brown, with seventeen negroes and a cow, had struck terror 
into all Virginia. [Cheers and laughter.] John Randolph said in Con- 
gress, "The tire-bell never rings in Richmond that every mother does not 
clasp her baby more closely to her breast." Why was this ? Because 
they lived on a volcano, and knew not at what honr incendiary fires would 
burst forth, enshrouding cities, and painting hell on the sky. Wasn't it 
reasonable to suppose that an element so dreadful as this in peace, would 
be fearful in time of war "? Wasn't it patriotic to hope and to wish that 
slaveowners and overseers might, for fear of slave massacres, be kept at 
home, in place of going to the battle-fields of rebellion to slaughter your 
neighbors and mine? Wasn't it right to take advantage of slavery, and 



96 



inan$)ge it to weaken and paralyze our enemies? But what was (lon# in 
deference to the policy of tho«e who have stolen the garment of '* Conser- 
vatism," and are so pleased with their new clothes that they are likely to 
strut tliomselves to death? Why, generals, "Conservative" generals, be- 
gan to issue proclamations, and kept issuing proclamations to the slaves 
and their masters, saying, "Now slaves be kind and obe<lient to your 
masters; don't you run away, if you do we'll send you back ; don't you 
rise, if you do we'll put you down with the whole power of the army ; and 
don't you go to scaring yom* mistresses or being disobliging, if you do we'll 
chastise you for that." The great idea seemed to be to let the slaves know 
that they couldn't be permitted to take any part in the ceremonies at all. 
Some of our generals felt as select and exclusive on that point, as the boy 
did at his mother's funeral, when he saw a neighbor boy ciy, and asked 
him, " What business have you to cry here, this ain't none of your funeral." 
What was the result of thus guarding rebel property? In place of an ele- 
ment of danger and weakness, slavery became an element of strength, and 
slaves fed and clothed rebellion. While the masters were away in the 
field, drilling and organizing and putting the country on a war footing, an 
unpaid laboring population of at least two millions, for women as well as 
men are field hands, were at home raising corn and pork, and making 
cloth, or else acting as cooks and teamsters, or digging the trenches, build- 
ing the fortifications, ay, and figlUing the battles of the rebellion. Does 
anybody doubt now that the slaves have been impressed into the military 
service of the rebellion ? The rebel picke'ts on the Kappahannock are 
many of them black to-day. Yet, for trying to turn .slaves against their 
master even now, after learning by bitter experience the folly of the past, 
the government is denounced, and charged with perverting the war into an 
Abolition raid. And men say this who pretend to be the friends of our 
soldiers in the field. I wish you could all .«tand, as I have stood, among 
the fortilications at Yorktown. Whoever visits them will see magnificent 
digging; he will see a city builded in the ground; he will see a maze 
of trenches and embankments many feet high, doubled with gabions 
and finished with a labor, which sets one counting by the thousands 
to guess how many white men dug tho.se graves as they burrowed 
into Yorktown. I would like to look upon the man who dare avow 
that he feels glad to know that white men drooped and died in those trench- 
es, when black men, used to the heat and malaria, might have been found 
to do the work in iialf the time. [I^^^"'^ cheers.] Yet all are nicknam- 
ed fiiiuili<"sand radicals, who have .sought to get some help out of the negro 
race. W'c arc told that it would be a great cahimity to free the slaves. 
Wiiy ? Jiccause they would come North. Oidy think of that ! They'll 
Stay South in slavery, and when they can stay and havi' I'nedom too, they'll 
come North! I believe tliat if you would drain the North of negroes, you 
have only to establish freedom and riglits for them South, and they will all 
go there as naturally as a duck lakes to water. 1 want the North emptied of 
its black popnhilion ; I want to see all the negroes North go South, and am 
willing to have them hold all the land there that is left over after our soldiers 
who want to stay, and the loyal people, are provided for. I would ci.Ht out 
the best rebel in the South, to make room lor the worst loyal man in thcNorth, 
black or white, and I should expect a trade as profitable as Prentice said 
another would be. He saiil if the Devil should change ])laces with .Tcfl'. 



97 



Davis, hell would gain as much in malignity as it lost in talent. LCheors.] 
It is an easy thing to find a stick if you wnnt to flog a dog ; and I wonder 
sometimes that those who are searching for excuses for shirking their duty 
ai'e not more ingenious. It is amazing how small a thing answers their 
purpose. If they can find some man who has been arrested, or some wo- 
man of high-flavored reputation who has been searched, they seem to think 
they have made out a case in favor of leaving the government to perish. 
For the madness and pique of party, they would bury their nationality 
under the waves of revolution, and leave the annals of free government 
like a bloody buoy on the sea of time, warning the nations of the earth to 
keep aloof from the mighty ruin. If they can find a fraud on the govern- 
ment which they have not been caught in themselves, they are as happy as 
a boy with a new top. [Cheers.] If some scamp has swindled the gov- 
ernment in the charter of a steamboat, or the manufacture of army cloth- 
ing, the whole administration is held to blame for that, and the war ought 
to stop to prevent frauds. P"'i'auds are plenty, no doubt ; thei-e are mis- 
creants flourishing about your hotels and streets, who have fattened upon 
the agony of their country ; who have bought shawls at Stewards, and 
diamonds at Ball & Black's, with gains made by smuggling felt and shoddy 
into the coat of the poor soldier, relied upon to keep him warm and dry in 
the pelting storm. There are men who would bribe some twin rascal to 
give them a contract, to weave the winding sheet of their country, expect- 
ing to double the profit by filling with shoddy and bujdng the inspector to 
let it pass. [Groans.] They are not " radical" men as a class, however ; 
they arc remarkably tree from "fanaticism." But retribution waits for 
each one of them, to overtake him sooner or later, and meantime, in place 
of stopping the war, "room for the leper, room!" If we are beset by 
thieves, let honest men press forward and close the war at once, instead of 
protracting it, to give thieves a longer run. Let us make the best and 
not the worst of our difiiculties. Let every man see carefully where his in- 
fluence goes. Let him look to his selfish interests as well as his patriotism. 
Do you want to embolden England to fit out ocean bandits to prey upon 
your commerce, and to drive all freights into British bottoms? If you do, 
you have only to tolerate and support and vote for politicians capable of 
sitting down here in New York, and intriguing with the British minister, 
for the humiliation of their country at the feet of foreign powers. Do 
you want to breathe new life and hope into rebellion, and the confederates 
of rebellion at home and abroad? If you do, you need only encoui'age 
parties, and newspapers, and men, who foment divisions here, and publish 
them to the world. Do you want to retard and prolong the war, till for- 
eign quarrels come, and the energies of the people ar.:; worn out ? If you 
do, you have only to give ear to those who talk about an armistice, or a 
compromise, or a convention now. You have only to give them countenance, 
and some other despot will land an army in Mexico, and slap the ^Lon- 
roe doctrine in our faces, to make us hang our heads the lower, when we 
remember that eight years ago our American ministers ostentatiously as- 
sembled at the tomb of Charlemagne, and proclaimed the " Ostend Mani- 
festo." [Applause.] Do you want to bind up the gashed bosom of the 
nation? do you want to restore permanent and universal repose? do you 
want to reinstate the government in its old glory, and the country to its 
old prosperity ? If you do, you have only to bend all the resources we 

. 7 



98 

possess to the annihilation of the rebellion. You want no truce till rebels 
seek it, and they will seek it whenever John Slidell is as well convinced 
that the North is united, as he is now that Europe won't interfere. You 
want no compromise, but the Constitution of the United States as your 
fathers made it. That is the ark of our safety, and " except we abide in 
the ship we cannot be saved." [Cheers.] Let us cling to the ship which 
our fatliers built and launched in darkness and tempests, upon the tide of 
time ; let us take heed lest she drift upon the rocks, while we wrangle 
among ourselves ; let us feel that our crowning infamy would be to lose 
the vessel from brawls among the crew. Katiier than this should happen, 
let her go down in the shock ; I'ather let the harpies of Europe pluck the 
eagle of the sea, rather than pull down her colors ourselves. 

" Nail to the mast her glorious flag, 
Stretch every threadbare sail, 
And give her to th*; God of storms, 
The ligbtniug and the gale !" 

Mr. J. W, Mather sang a song composed for the occasion by George 
H. Bokei', commencing : 

" When our banner went down, with its ancient renown, 
Betrayed and degraded by treason. 
Did tlu-y tliiiik, as it fell, what a passion swell 
Our hearts, when we asked them the reason ?" 

The chorus, being taken up by the immense throng, had a fine effect. 

The Chairman next introduced the Hon. Gi:o. W. Julian, of Indiana, as 
one who would show them how futile was the hope of the rebels to sepa- 
ate Western men from the Union. 



SPEECH OF HON. GEO. W. JULIAN. 

Gentle-MKN : "When I came to New York I had no thought of address- 
ing this meeting. 1 have consented to do so, but brietly and with much 
hesitation; for 1 am sure that such an audience as this, assembled iu the 
presence of so many able and elo(j[uent men, can tind better pastime than 
listening to any words of mine. 

Allow me for a few monii-nts to refer to some of the lessons of this war 
— lessons worthy to be pondered in the present stage of our conllict, and 
full ot promise ibr the future. In the first place, we have learned that this 
rebtUion can only be put down hy Jojhtiiuj. [Cheers.] In the begirming 
we did not realize thi.s. We believed in making a show of war, Avhile other 
renK'dics were to be kept in reserve, and actual war avoided. You will 
rcmcnibir that the general-in-chief of our armies, the great militaiy idol of 
the nation, scouted the idea of crushing the rebels hy military power. Ho 
belii'ved in (•oinpiomis(>, In declininj: the just and nceessary conseipieiicos 
of Mr. Lincoln's election, in conciliation, in nu'lting the hearts of the 
rebels by the fervent heat of brotherly love, or tliat we shouhl allow them 
to "go in peace." Many good and patriotic persons thought we were to 
Huc<'eed \iy /i/ni/iiii/ war, and by wooing our '* erring sisters" hack Irom their 
folly and their crime. I rejoice (hat we have outgrown this infatuation, and 
that uU loyal men now agree that this must be a struggle of physical vio- 



99 

lence, the aim of which is to suhjitgate the rebels by military power. I be- 
lieve this will now be done, because at last we have an eye single to its 
accomplishment, and have put far from us any thought of diplomacy or 
compromise. [Cheers.] 

Wo have learned another lesson. We have learned, by very dearly- 
bought experience, that this is not a mei^e struggle of physical forces, or of 
victories, but of ideas. At first we tried not to see this. We tried to 
make ourselves believe that this rebellion was a stupendous accident, 
springing into life without any known parentage, and defying the law of 
cause and effect. We thought we could crush the rebellion Avhile ignor- 
ing the cause which produced it, and that we could hope for the favor of 
God without laying hold of the conscience of one general. The govern- 
ment itself, speaking through its high functionaries, declared that the 
slavery question was not involved in the contest, and that slavery itself 
would remain exactly the same after the war as before. But we have at 
last opened new books. Every man now sees that this is a struggle be- 
tween two forms of civilization, each aiming at the mastery of the Repub- 
lic ; a struggle between right and wrong, between light and darkness, be- 
tween heaven and hell. Every loyal man now admits slavery to have 
been the cause of the war, and that we must deal with it in the light of 
this truth. Every intelligent man now sees that our mistaken policy, by 
making our struggle one for mere power on the part of the North and for 
independence on the part of the South, has lost us the sympathy of the 
masses in Europe ; and that if we are saved from foreign intervention, it 
will be owing to our entire change of front on this question. Let us re- 
joice that since slavery has the nation by the throat, we are at last ready 
to smite it in the name of God. [Applause.] 

Gentlemen, I refer to another lesson we are learning in the progress of 
this war. We are learning how to draw the line between treason and 
loyalty. We are learning that opposition to the administi-ation in the use 
of its authorized means of crushing the rebels, is so much aid given to their 
cadse. We are learning that there can be no middle ground, and that a 
conditional Union man is no Union man at all. You can't serve God and 
Mammon. You can't ride two horses at once, when they are going in 
opposite directions, without great inconvenience. This is a revolt against 
law, against the constituted authorities of the government. It must be 
put down by the constituted authorities of the government. We can't 
crush it by going forth each' one of us to fight on our own hook. We 
must use the army, the navy, the executive, the money provided by Con- 
gress, and, in short, the authority of the Constitution and laws. And 
if there is a man here who is not willing to lay hold of all the ropes which 
the government has thrown out to strangle rebels with; if there is one 
here wlio is not willing to lay hold of old Abe Lincoln's proclamation, and 
help him maul the lives out of the rebels with it ; if there is a man here 
who is not willing to use all the instrumentalities which the nation, in its 
wisdom, has seen fit to employ in saving the government, then I say he is 
on the wrong side of the line, and ought to make tracks to the tents of 
Jeff. Davis just as fast as his unsanctified legs will carry him. He does 
not belong here, for there is, I repeat, no half-way house between treason 
and loyalty. I am glad that we are learning this lesson, and requiring 
men so to take their position that we may know whether to shoot at them 
or not. 



100 



There is still another encouraging lesson which the rebellion is teaching 
us. We are learning to liate the rebels, somewhat in projortion to their 
stupendous guilt. [Cheers.] The lack of a just resentment on the part 
of our armies and people, has been one of the grand obstacles to our suc- 
cess. This I repeat on the authority of the ablest and truest generals in 
the service. We have not dealt with i-ebels and outlaws as i-ebels and out- 
laws. We have called them ''misguided brethren" and "erring sisters," 
instead of complimenting them in valid coin. I rcjolci.' that we are begin- 
ning to appreciate their character, and to act accordingly. We have 
learned that they arc animated bj-^ all the fuiy of devils. Ihuler the infernal 
tuition of slavery, they have run through the whole gamut of common vil- 
lanies, and at last turned national assassins. They poison our wells, murder 
our wounded soldiers, plant torpedoes in their path, boil the dead bodies 
of our soldiers in caldrons, and saw up their bones into jewelry and fin- 
ger-rings to decorate their Christ-forsaken carcasses. They have hatched 
into life whole broods of villanics that have been unheard of in the past 
history of the world. They have improved upon human depravity till I 
would suppose the Devil himself wouUl grow ashamed of his occupation, 
and seek a change of air. 

Gentlemen, if I had the command of our armies, and the courage and 
skill to had them, I would chastise these rebels as thiy deserve. I would 
batter down their cities ; I Avould lay waste their plantations , I would 
free and arm their negroes ; I would write desolation and death on the 
very soil ; and if I had the power, I would paint hell on the very sky that 
bends over the rebel states, so that all the world might see what it costs to 
conspire against such a government as this. I would not talk abotit the 
constitutional rights of the scoundrels who have abdicated the constitution, 
and ceased to have any rights under it ; but I would deal with them as 
having no right in God's world but the right to die. Such an earnestness 
on our p:u-t is what the case demanded from the beginning. Some people 
believe that everybody, at death, will go straiglit to heaven wit]:out touch- 
ing upf)n any purgatory on the way. Now I don't [)ropo.<c to enter into 
any theolugical speculations, but it sometimes occurs to me that if there is not 
a pretty brisk little purgatory on the other side of the grave, for the special 
treatment of deli". Davis and his crew, it will be the grandest oversight 
that divine l^rovidoncc coidil possibly have conuuitted. I have heard 
somewhere of a Calvinistic preacher who said that (iod would send some sin- 
ners to hell just to show them what a splendid damnation he could gke them. 
1 confess, J never think of these rebels without thinking of that preacher. ' 
But hi inc not be understood as wisliing to postpone the treatment of these 
rebels to the next world. On the contrary, let us give them as worthy 
and us emphatic a forct:iste here as we can give them, consistently with 
the laws of war. [Cheers.] 

Gentliiiicii, pennit mo to say, in conclusion, that there is one K-sson of 
this war which 1 fear wc have not yet sulliciently mastered. I mean 
the duly of frank, fearless and friendly criticism of tliis administration. I 
mean just what I .siy — not the critiei.-m of rebel sympathizers and copper- 
heads, mas(|u<'iading in the <lisguise ol loyally, while seeking the o\erthrow 
of the government, but the criticism of the loyal mas.><es who installed the 
ndminist ration in power, who have a right to direct it, and who.se religiou.s 
duty it is to nmke themselves heiu'J. 1 exhort you, my friends, to do your 



101 

duty in this respect. See to it that you are loyal to the government, but 
see to it that the government is loyal to you. Without you, the adminis- 
tration can do nothing ; with your earnest help, it cannot fail. You made 
it. It is the breath of the ^jeople. The president is your servant ; and it 
becomes your solemn duty, when he goes astray, to point to his errors and 
advise him of your wishes. Loving the countiy as I do, far more than I 
love the president, or his cabinet, or his commanding generals, and be- 
lieving, as I have done, that I saw the I'epubUc alternating between life 
and death, through the misguided policy of the administration, I have said 
so frankly in my place in the House of Representatives ; and I thank the 
newspapers for the audience they have given me. Perfect loyalty would 
not allow me to say less. The country must be saved at all hazards. No 
man's position is so exalted, or chai'acter so sacred, that he should be 
spared at the nation's expense. When General Butler was recalled from 
New Orleans I think the government did wrong, and I say so ; and that 
that wrong should be righted. When General Fremont was struck down 
in the midst of a glorious career in the West, in defiance of th* sentiment 
of the people, and without any warrant of fact or justice, the government 
did wrong, and the loyal masses of the country, who know this, should de- 
mand atonement through his immediate restoiation to a command befitting 
his rank and merits. When high commanders in our armies have been 
persistently kept in the service for a whole year, when their incapacity or 
disloyalty could not have been unknown to the President, he did wrong, 
and you should demand, in the name of the country, that aU such wrongs 
shall be righted. Be faithful to the administration, Stand by it with a 
love and fidelity which can only be measured by your devotion to your 
country and its priceless interests, and the government, becoming\at once 
your servant and the master of the rebels, will speedily usher in the glad 
return of peace, and liberty and law shall be one and inseparable forever. 
You will not again see " the Union as it was," but as it will be when this 
war shall have worked out its providential lesson, and the old flag of our 
fathers, waving only over the free, shall appear as lovely as " the rainbow 
after a tempest." [Prolonged cheers.] 

THE YOUNG HEKO OF THE " HAKEIET LAKE." 

Gen. Fremont then stated that John M. Eager, Esq., would narrate 
an incident of the Rebellion. 

Mr. Eager said : It will be remembered that when the decks of the 
Harriet Lane had been cleared by the rebels, a boy made his appearance, 
and picking up two revolvers that lay upon the deck, discharged their 
charges upon the boarding assailants, and that nearly every shot took 
effect. Tliat boy, but fourteen years of age, was of Scottish parentage, 
and had given his life and courage to the cause in which his vessel \\m en- 
gaged. Fellow-citizens, at the request of the presiding officer of this 
stand, I have the pleasure of introducing to yoi\ the gallant boy, Robert 
Cummings, the boy hero of the Harriet Lane. 

The boy came forward, and the vast concourse gave him a hearty greet- 
ng, testifying their appreciation of his merits by a liberal contribution of 
'' greenbacks," which he pocketed with evident satisfaction. 



102 

Gen. Fremont came forward to introduce the next speaker, Mr. W. J. 
A. Fuller ; but tlie General's appearance was lu\ilcd with vociferous ap- 
plause and calls for "a speech" by new ari'ivals. Gen. Fremont bowed 
his acknowledgments, and said : Fellow-citizens, I cannot say anything 
further than I have already said to strength your convictions, deepen your 
enthusiasm, or kindle your patriotism. [Cheers.] I beg you will now let 
me leave the rest to my friend Mr. Fuller. [Cries of "No, no!" " Go 
on yourself"] 

SPEECH OF W. J. A. FULLER, ESQ. 

Fellow-citizens : It requires a pretty bold man to follow in the wake 
of Gen. Fremont ; nevertheless I shall try it. [Clieers.] 

Fellow-citizens: Twice since the breaking out of thi.s unholy rebellion, 
I have had the honor to address you in this place upon the same issues 
which bring us together to-day. At the great war meeting held here last 
year, we exchanged words of encouragement that might help to nerve the 
arm and strcngtlien the purpose of the government to crush this gipantic 
crime against the nation and against humanity; and two years ago, in this 
veiy sipiare, we first gave utterance to that patriotic indignation which 
thrilled through the land at the dastard attack upon Fort Sumter. [Ap- 
plause.] Again we are solemnly as.'^embled, on this anniversary of that 
fatal day, to renew our stern resolve to maintain the integrity of the na- 
tion in all its principles of free government, and to preserve intact the 
national domain. [Cheers.] None of us will ever forget the glorious up- 
rising of tlie North, when treason dared to defy the flag we all so honored 
and revered. The electric effect of the rattling of that iron hail upon Fort 
Sumter still sounds in our ears and lingers in our hearts. AVith what 
eager devotion and enthusiastic loyalty the people rallied around their in- 
sulted flag ! As in the thunder-storms that sweep over free Switzerland, 

" Jura answers tlirougli her misty sliroiul 
Back to the joyous Alps who call to her aloud," 

[cheerp], so did the vengeance of a free people vent itself in wrathful clam- 
ors against tlic authors of this outrage, [.\pplause.] The echoing sliuuts 
of their indignation reverberated amid the hills of peaceful and hap|)y New 
England, across the fertile valleys of the Susiiuehanuah and the (ienesee, 
and over the broad ])rairies of the West, sweeping them, like tiieir ovm 
destructive fires, until the dying ciulences were lost, mingling with the pasins 
of rejoicing that came answering back to us from those bright twin stars of 
freedom upon the Paeilie shore. You all remember the stirring effect of 
the President's proclamation calling the nation to arms! Its clarion notes 
rang through the land like the call of a trumpet. It Svas like the blast of 
Roderick's bugle. From hill and mountain side, from vale and heather, 
plaided warriors, beltdl and glaived, .'itarted from the earth and rushed to 
the defence of thu capital and the nation. [Applau.se.] 

I will not slop to trace in detail the pi-ogrc,<s of the war, or (o show its 
eflTccI upon the country. AVc have a stinging recollection of some inconsid- 
erable defeats, ami a few serious reverses to our arms; but lhe.se are more 
than coMnteibalanc«'d by a long series of glorious triuniphs liy land and by .sea. 



103 

Upon a thorough survey of the whole gronnrl, we have reason to thank 
God for our successes thus far. All great wars have been slow in their 
operations, and liable to vicissitudes. This has been eminently so with us. 
In addition to the gigantic force of the rebellion, we have had to deal, at 
the Noi th as well as the South, with that disturbing element which alone 
has caused it. This has been a stronger adversary than enrolled armies, and 
hosts of steel. It has encountered customs, prejudices, sins, that have 
been intrenched in the whole sentiment, manifested in all the action, and 
interwoven with all the tissues and framework of our social, commercial, 
and political relations. [Cheers.] We must expect, therefore, the prog- 
gress of our cause to have been slow and fitful — now pushed forward with 
marked success, now drooping, despondent, and almost paralyzed by a re- 
action from the other side ; now meeting some heady current of opposition, 
checked, and almost beaten back ; now, by the impulse of new energy, and 
the strength of aroused determination, rallying, and breaking the sturdy 
lines of the enemy. [Cheers.] Yet in none of these crises must we fear 
the grand result. Our cause and our material resources are stronger than 
the rebels, and, like truth, are so miglity that they mvist prevail. [Ap- 
plause.] The waves of our progress, now ebbing, now flowing, gain on the 
whole, and slowly, yet svuely, overcome both the sandy barrier and the rock- 
bound coast ; for what is of God, and for humanity, is sure to triumph. 
[Cries of " good !"] No man can fail to observe that triumph, even at the 
point which our cause now occupies. In order to appreciate that triumph, 
we must have a wide horizon. One battle, or two, or a few almost im- 
pregnable positions as yet successfully defying our efforts to reduce them, 
may furnish to narrow and carping minds no perfectly satisfactory result. 
But what says the experience of the past two years '? Is there not a great 
change in the tone of public sentiment as to the true cause of the war ? 
[Loud applause.] And have we not reason to be satisfied with our net 
results ? Two years ago, fifteen states were in open or thinly disguised 
rebellion. To-day, our flag flies on the soil of every state, and the border 
states, with a single exception, are all reclaimed, and ranged on the side of 
the Union. I have been a close student of history, and I challenge con- 
tradiction when I assert that, in neither ancient nor modern times, has any 
nation ever accomplished so much within so short a period, as our govern- 
ment has done within the past two years. [Cheers.] 

The present condition of the war, and purpose of our people, hold out 
most gratifying encouragement for the future. It has become a question 
of endurance, and our Northern blood tells. I have never been one of 
those who believed this hydra-headed rebellion could be crushed comp,etely 
out in thirty, sixty, or ninety days. It is a big job we have on hand yet; 
but with patience and perseverance, we shall get successfully through it. 
The people will get the government right after a while, and then we shall 
make short work of it. [Cheers.] Already we see the beginning of the 
end. The sentiment of patriotism, evoked by the assault on Fort Sumter, 
has crystalyzed into a principle, a firm, stern, deep-rooted, and determined 
purpose to preserve intact this nation, both in territory and form of gov- 
ernment. The people have always been right. The difficulty heretofore 
has been with the government, which has moved so slowly and inefliciently. 
The people have given most freely of their blood and treasure, and suljmitted 
to sacrifices without stint ; but the imbecility and incapacity of their rulers 



104 

have stood between tbem and tlieir triurapli. [Cheers.] At each of the 
gi-eat meetings held here, I have endeavored to urge the government to 
more vigorous and dtcisive action. Hitherto we have acted toward the South 
just as a man would treat his discarded mistress — afraid to strike lier and 
mar her beauty, for fear lie might wish to be restored to her caresses. 
Tiiank God, that is all over now ! Even the hunkerest of hunkers and 
copperest of copperheads are satisfied that war exists, and that there can be 
but one successful road out of it now, and that is the complete sulijngation 
of the rebels. [Applause.] I never heai'd one of these reptiles but wanted 
to whip them first, before "letting the wayward sisters go." [Laughter 
and applause.] 

Tiie people have finally settled into the conviction that it is too late now 
to discuss the cause of the war. The}' all know what brought it about, 
and feel and know that any and all overtures of peace and reconciliation 
would be fruitle.es, until the . rebellious hosts hftve all been overcome. 
[Cheers ] This is our purpose here to-day — to say to the government, use 
the means which a coniiding people have given you to crush out the rebel- 
lion, and we, on our part, here solemnly renew our pledge of unconditional 
loyalty to the government, to an unwavering support of its efforts to sup- 
press the rebellion, and to spare no endeavor to maintain unimpaired the 
national unity, both in prin(i2)le and territonal boundaiy. [Cheers.] 

I want a few words of plain square talk with the President. AVe all 
know his sterling worth, his ardent patriotism, his honesty of purpose, his 
plain, practical common .^ense; but, alas! we al.so know tliat to his ex- 
treme good nature and kindne-^s of heart must be charged his disinclination 
to " hurt" anybody, and the long train of evil results that have flowed 
therefrom. Abraham Lincoln! you still have the confidence of the people, 
and they will stand by you and sustain and uphold you and the govern- 
ment in its policy and in all its measures; but in return for this generous 
confidence, tiiey ask and will exact from you that you do your whole duly 
to them. [Cries of " That's so."] "We want you to feel that war means 
something; that cvcryhodii must be "hurt" who stands in the way of the 
accompli.^hment of our relentless purpose. INIake your generals fight, hang 
traitors, shoot deserters, use the great powers at your command sternly 
and unllinchingly, and yni can soon tread out the last dying ember of this 
relK'Uion. [Cheers.] We have given you the tools! Use them ! You 
have all the money and all the men necessary to make short Avork of this 
war. Employ them with all the vigor and energy God has given you. 
Enforce your conscription law, and do it speedily and thoroughly. The 
people will stand it — stand anything, everything but supineness and in- 
acti\ity. [Three cheers.] Don't let your ai-mies rust with inaction or rot 
with di>ea.«e. [.Vpplause.] 

We have had enough of political favoriti.>-ni and partl-^an prefer«ticc in 
the field and out of it. We want meit now — men witli hearts of fire and 
nervan of ■'<teel. 'i'urn out every man, from a cabinet minister down to the 
lowest oflieer in the army who Iuls an in<lej)endent command, who will not 
till sonu'thing. [Cheers, and cries of " That's to the purpose."] We must 
have in every depurtnn-nt of the public service men etjual to the present 
exigency. The people are sick to death of «lo-nothing-!. [Cheers.] As 
we recover territory in tlie rebel districts, appoint judges wiio will contis. 
cate properly to help pay the expenses of the war: men who will "hurt'' 



105 



somebody — hang somebody, if you will give them half a chance ; who will 
not, to be personally pleasant and popular, fail in their whole duty, but 
who will "make things smoke," and compel the rebels to foot the bills. 
[Cries of " Good."] I speak thus to you, Abraham Lincoln, because you 
are the fountain head, and you alone have the power to remove stumbling 
blocks and to hold your generals to a most rigid accountability. Stiffen 
the rail down your back [laughter and cheers], and do not allow generals, 
as I know they have, to overrule your broad, comprehensive, and common 
sense plans. If one general fails to execute your orders, have his head in 
a charger, and put another in his place. [Cheers.] Hold them all re- 
sponsible with their commissions and their heads for the prompt and faith- 
ful execution of your orders. Make them toe the mark, or decapitate them 
right and left. Do not be turned from your purpose by the stereotyped 
plea that you are not a military man. You have got in an eminent de- 
gree what many men lack ; what you call in the West, " hard horse sense." 
[Cheers.] Use it ! Eide over croakers and inefficient generals roughshod. 
Take the lines in your hands and drive the coach yourself; and if they at- 
tempt to turn your horses or stop your progress, run them into the ditch. 
For two years the people have lieen saying, in the language of the Revela- 
lations, "How long, O Lord!'' have we to wait! They have been pa- 
tiently and anxiously waiting for you to assume the whole responsibility 
and control of this war. Use fearlessly and fiercely the vast means and 
resources which they have placed at your disposal. The compulsive course 
of the people knows no retiring ebb, but keeps right onward to its purpose, 
and they earnestly call upon you to do all that lies in you to finish the war 
and crush out the rebellion. 8ubjugate, exterminate, annihilate, repeople 
"the South, if need be, but use all the power now in your hands to bring 
the war to a speedy and successful issue. You are constantly accumula- 
ting war material. Use it sharply, suddenly, decisively. Don't waste 
your time on side issues or on semi-traitors at the North. The people will 
take care of them. We'll erect a guillotine in this square, run it by steam, 
and cut off all the copperheads in the country, if you will only attend to 
your part of the business, and make your armies whip the rebels. [Cheers.] 
We have got to whip them or be whipped ourselves. There is no mid- 
dle course, no other alternative. If we are willing to let Jeff. Davis alone, 
he won't let us alone. Put men like Gen. Butler [cheers] and the late la- 
mented Gen. Mitchell, if you can find them, in positions where their talents 
and energies can have full scope. Don't fetter them. Give them full means 
and authority, and they will render a good account of their stewardship. 
Don't be alarmed about intervention of any kind. The people will take 
care of that, too, let it come in what shape, or from what quarter it may. 
In spite of the hea\-y burdens of the war the nation has increased in 
moi'al and material developments, until we have that supreme conscious- 
ness of inherent strength and cohesive power, that would enable us in this 
righteous cause to shake our naval and military fist in the face of the 
world. The construction of our Monitors has revolutionized naval war- 
fare, and destroyed the boasted superiority of England, who is no longer 
mistress of the seas. We pulled her naval teeth all out when we built the 
Monitor. The inventive genius of our people has made such improve- 
ments in army and navy projectiles, and other warlike contrivances, that 



106 

we can afford to smile ■with derision at any and all threats of foreign inter- 
vention. [Applause.] 

The nation has safely passed through two important eras in its history. 
First, in our infancy, tlie war of Independence showed our ability to throw 
off all foreign control. Second, ere we had fairly hardened from the gristle 
into the bone of manhood, we proved ourselves able to resist successfully, 
foreign aggression ; and now we are in the midst of the third and most 
important struggle for national life, in coping with domestic treason and 
preventing national pairicide. It remains for us to show that we have suf- 
ficient strength and unity to govern ourselves. Unless we can put down 
this rebellion, we proclaim to the world our inability to sustain free gov- 
ernment, and prove the unfitness and incapacity of a free people to iiile 
themselves. fCheei's.] 

We see to-day, tln-oughout the length and breadth of the land, the 
grandest exhibition of loyalty ever shown by a people to its government. 
With the vast means and resources placed in the hands of the government, 
it has, as yet, failed to crush out this rebellion. Tiie fault, as 1 have said, 
lies not with the people, but witli those who have wielded these vast I'e- 
sources. But, notwithstanding the impatience of the people at the tardy 
and inefficient efforts of the government, we have again rallied around it, 
to expi-ess our confidence in its loyalty, to give it renewed assurances of 
our abiding faith in its ability to accomplish its work, and to implore it to 
give us, in vigorous and energetic action, an equivalent for our generous 
trust and support. [Cheers.] 

This Loyal National League inaugurates a mighty movement, which 
cannot fail of influencing greatly the destinies of tl)e republic. The people 
are willing to forget and forgive the faults, and lollies, and crimes of men 
in high places, and only ask in return tliat their rulers shall forego all per- 
sonal and partisan considerations, and devote their whole energies to the 
business of crushing out the rebellion. [Cheers.] Men of all parties, 
sects, and conditions, have given in their adhesion to this movement. They 
ignore all party alhliations, bury all personal animosities, and agree to 
imite for this one purpo.se of making speedy and thorough work of this 
war. Let, then, the government unite, heart and hand, with the people, 
and save the national life, wliich is in such deadly peril. The country 
will furnish soldiers, but it must have victories. Let the government be 
assured that the hearts of the people are wholly in the work belbre them, 
and that no draft can be made upon them too large, provided that it be 
used to insure victories. [Applause.] Unless the government cordially unite 
with the jteople, and work with them energetically and ellicienlly m 
putti?ig down the rebellion, we shall become jarring states, petty power.-*, 
warring upon each other, aii<l torn with internal feuils, like Mexico and 
tlie Soutii American republics. Kalher tiiau sec this nation share such a 
fate — rather than l)ehold its honored llag trailing in such dii^graco — it would 
be better that the wliole country be swept with the bc-^om of destruction. 
[Prolongctl applau.><c.] 

The Chairman then came forward and said tiiat Mr. Peter Cooper, 
not being able to be present, hatl nvpiestod him to road a few remarks 
which he liad ])rc])arcd. 



lOT 



KEMAEKS OP ME. PETEE COOPEE. 



We have met, my friends, like the fathers of our country. They met to 
pledge their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor, to form a Union 
of all tlie states into one general government — a government more perfect 
and more powerful for all the purposes of self-preservation than had ever 
before existed in any age or country of the world. To effect this glorious 
purpose, they bound themselves by a solemn obligation to guarantee to 
every state a republican form of government, with all the rights of a free 
and independent people and countiy — a government having its foundation 
on the inalienable rights of man, and not like rebeldom, with its corner- 
stone resting on the necks of four millions of human beings held in hope- 
less, thankless slavery. Yes, my friends, it is to maintain, extend, and 
perpetuate the institution of human slavery, that has brought on our coun- 
try all the horrors of cruel war. This, my friends, is what our Southern 
rebels intend to maintain and perpetuate. It is a system that enables 
thousands to sell their own children into hopeless bondage ; an institution 
that, as John Wesley has well said, comprehends in itself the sum of all 
villanies. For, after having stolen a man and sold him into slavery with 
all his posterity, Avhat more can be done ? When I i-emember of hearing 
my father tell that he had seen, when a boy, clroves of naked Africans driven 
through his native village of Fishkill, and exposed there for sale, and that 
he had thrown corn among these half-starved creatures, and seen them 
struggle for the grains as they fell on the ground, I can only think of a 
system with such an origin, and which subjects a whole race to such a 
depth of degradation, with the most profound detestation and horror. The 
question now arises, and demands an answer, what must we do to be saved 
from being overrun and subjected by the heartless tyranny of such a sys- 
tem.? For we must remember, as Dr. Franklin has well said, that men 
are proud-spirited little animals, not fit to be trusted with power. What, 
then, can we do to save this great country from the terrible war in which 
we are now involved % If we act like men, we will frown doviTi every 
party and every person that stands in the way of putting down this most 
wicked rebellion. We must do what we ought to have done at the begin- 
ning of the war. We should give constant assurance that we will protect 
and defend all friends of the Union of these states, whether black or white : 
and we must carry on this war to the bitter end against aU who would 
pluck a star from our flag or lessen the power and glory of the nation. 

The meeting was then adjourned by the chairman. 



OFFICERS. 



STAND NO. 5. 

Under charge of Committee of Arrangements, 

THOMAS N. DALE, 
CHAELES ASTOE BEISTED, 
WILLIAM S. BLODGETT. 



President. 

CHAELES BUTLEE. 



Viee-Presidents. 



William Curtis Noyes, 
William F. Gary, 
G-eorge F. Nesbitt, 
Peter Baker, 
John H. Ocherhausen, 
G-eorge Wilkes, 
William Oothout, 
Murray Hoffman, 
S. B. Chittenden, 
Austin Abbott, 
Cyrus Curtis, 
Thomas Tileston, 
Eichard Berry, 
P. Pfeiffer, 
J. W. Wenners 

E. E. Morgan, 
Horatio Allen, 

F. S. Winston, 
Eobert B. Minturn 
A. A. Low, 

H. B. Stanton, 
Ernst Bredt, 
A. L. Eobertson, 
Hugo^Wesendonck, 
Louis Schwartz, 



William Grovenart, 
Francis Ruppert, 
Charles J. Chipp, 
John Benkard, 
J. Penniman, 
Christopher Williams, 
Frederic De Peyster, 
J. P. Gii-ard Foster, 
Eobei-t McGinnis, 
John E. Gavitt, 
Erasmus Sterling, 
Frederick 0. Wagner, 
Sigismund Kaufman, 
A. D. F. Eandolph, 
Simeon Baldwin, 
H. W. T. MaH, 
G. Griswold, 
Caleb B. Knevals, 
Eichard S. Storrs, 
Moses S. Beach, 
Bernard Cohen, 
Adrian Iselin, 
Henry F. Vail, 
Charles Yates, 
Ira 0. Miller, 



110 



Robert Bayard, 
Philip Fraukenheimer, 
John Lloyd, 
Otto Ernst, 
Adam Norrie,j 
Stephen Cainbreleng, . 
William T. B. Milliken, 
Samuel M. Fox, 
Peter S. Titus, 
Samuel W. Stebbins, 
Charles H. Euggles, 
Elia^ Wade, Jr., 
0. Ottundorfer, 
Abram Wakeman, 
John Sattig, 
L. Funke, 



Treadwell Ketehum, 
James W. Savage, 
John J. Cisco, 
A. Lockwood, 
John P. Crosby, 
Latham Parker, 
J. N. A. Griswold, 
Edgar Ketchuin, 
S. Matille, 
Charles T. Eodgers, 
T. A. Smith, 
Henry E. Davies, 
D. Willis James, 
W. E. Vermilye, 
Henry A. Kerr, 
J. P.Underhill. 



Secretaries. 



Nathaniel Coles, 
Henry A. Oakley, 
Eichard A. McCurdy, 
Theadore B. Bronson, 
Charles E. Strong, 
Samuel Williams, 
Charles H. Neilson, 
William B. Crocker, 
Walter H. Bums, 
Edward C. Moms, 
John H. Almy, 
Eichard L. Suydam, 



Thomas B. Bills, 
Hugh L, Meighan, 
Jefferson Coddington, 
David Eowland, 

A. C. Ivingsland, jr., 
Charles Wiegand, 
Benjamin W. Strong, 
Francis A. Hall, 

B. H. Howard, 
George B. Satterleo, 
G. P. Lowrey. 



PROGEAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 



STAND No. 5. 

NORTHERLY END OP UNION SQUARE, BETWEEN BROADWAY AND FOURTH AVENUE. 

Salutes of Artillery hy the ivorkmen employed by Hem'y Brewster ^ Co. 

1. Grand March from " Le Propliete, " of Meyerbeer, by Wallace's Grand 

Band. 

2. Charles Butler, of the Council of the Loyal National League, will call the 

meeting to order. 

3. Prayer by Rev, Henry W. Bellows, D. D. 

4.' William T. Blodgett, of the Executive Committee, will read the call for 
the meeting, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. Thomas N. Dale will read the address adopted by the Council and 

Executive Committees on Lectures and Addresses. 

6. Thomas N. Dale will read the resolutions. 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson will address the meeting. 

9. Music — singing : " The Army Hymn." By Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

10. Hon. Henry Wilson will address the meeting." 

11. Music — singing : " The Star-Spangled Banner." 

12. James W. Nye will address the meeting. 

13. Music — singing : " Song for the Loyal National League," written expressly 

for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

14. John C. Montgomery will address the meeting. 

15. Thomas N. Dale will read a poem, entitled " Those Seventy Men," 

written expressly for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

16. Henry B. Stanton will address the meeting. 

17. Music — singing : " Our Union." Written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street. 



112 

CiiAKi.ES Butler, of the Council of the Loyal National League, called 
the meeting to order, and an impressive prayer was offered up by llcv. 
Henry W, Bellows. 

The Call of the Meeting, the Address and Resolutions, and the 
Special Resolutions on the death of Judge James L, Petigru, of 
Charleston, S. C, were duly I'ead, after which the Chairman introduced 
the Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson, who was received with great cheering 
and applause. 

speech of the HON. DANIEL S. DICKINSON. 

Mr.. President and Ladies and Gentlemen : It is almost two years 
since I attended a meeting in this very square to discuss public affairs and 
the condition of the country. It is two years this day since our national 
flag, our great emblem of hope and promise — the Stars and Stripes — was 
insulted by an infamous conspiracy and an infernal rebellion. [Loud 
applause.] I well remember when the news reached the city. It was a 
dark and fearful night ; the storm was descending in its awful density, well 
worthy of such an occasion as that. The fiend spirit of the storm clapped 
his hands, and it seemed as though the evil genius of destruction was 
brooding over us. Two years have now elapsed, and thfe sun is shining 
genially upon us, the air is warm, the germs are shooting, the buds are 
swelling, the lawns are green, the birds are singing, and the popular heart 
is redolent with hope anil buo}ant with promise. [Loud cheers.] Rebel- 
lion still exists, but how docs it exist ? Ciiai'leston — the hotbed of seces- 
sion, the Ibul point and nucleus of rebellion, the cesspool of conspiracy 
[loud cheers and laughter], the heart of all that is infamous and wicked in 
tills matter — if .'■he has not already fallen, it is but a question of time. 
[Great ajjplause and cheers.] And the owls and raven.s who have croaked 
for blood will soon know that ashes and desohition cover the spot tliat has 
80 long menaced the integrity of this Union ! [Loud applau.se.] It is .«aid 
to be the heart of this great movement, and so it is; and the foul and slimy 
blood it has sent forth through the political veins, had it not been resisted 
by loyal health, would have corrupted the whole mass. JJut, thank God, 
from the time our Stars and Stripes were insulted, from the time our sol- 
diers were butchered in Baltimore while marching to tiie defence of the 
national capital, from fliat time to the present, the loyal feeling has been 
abroad, and it will vindicate itself and prove the intogrity of the loyal peo- 
ple. But 1 will not go back, when .so many al)le and dislingui.«heil gentle- 
men are to follow me, to .spend time in discu.ssing the cau.ses ol a war for 
which there was no cause except evil spirits. I will take the question as I 
find it, as one of the greatest events which has ever existed since civiliza- 
tion was oigani/.ed — a question between government and con.^piracy, a 
question between light and darkness, a (piestion between goud and 
evil, a question between government and rebelUon. Wliat though 
the evil spirit of darkness hua bi^en loose for ii little season, jind 
has been permitted to rove up and down the earth? When this 
rebellion wiw organized, the spirit ol' jtolitical puities among jUI noble 
and good men was lui.shed — democrat, repul)liean, American, and aboh- 



113 



tionist even — all men who loved their country more than party came to- 
gether like a band of brothers, determined to vindicate the integrity of the 
government and prove themselves worthy descendants of iUustrious and 
Revolutionary sires! [Cheers.] I stand upon that ground to-day, and I 
defy all the artillery, save the artillery of heaven, to dislodge me. [Great 
applause, and cries of "'That's it."] But as political parties laid aside their 
armor and left their castle untenanted, there were a few miserable politi- 
cians who came forward and took with them seven more spirits more 
wicked than themselves, and entered in and dwelt there, and the last state 
of politics was worse than the first. [Great laughter and applause.] 

Tliis controvei'sy, gentlemen, has assorted society — it has made up its 
account; it has put men of loyal hearts, who love their country above 
party and above all things, into one great mass together, and here they 
stand before me. [Applause.] Opposed to them are three classes of those who 
are against the country and the administration. One of these classes have 
arms in their hands; another class have politics in their heads ; and an- 
other class have treason in their hearts — and they are all working together. 
[Great applause.] I curse them all as one ! [Cheers, and cries of " Good, 
good."] I invoke the maledictions of all loyal people upon them. I de- 
nounce them in the name of the Union, the Constitution, of free "-overn- 
ment, and of liberty. [Cheers,] It is the duty and should be the privilege 
of all men to come forward and act together, irrespective of party ; un- 
fettered, unembarrassed, and untrammelled entirely by any party lines or 
party leadership ! And such is the feeling of the country ; it is tendin"- in 
that direction every day ; and the popular currents are growing so broad, 
so deep, and running with such power, that they will sweep away all this 
rubbish of lies and political parties, [Loud cheers,] 

It is a question, gentlemen, that reaches down to the foundation stones 
of our government ; a question whether that great edifice shall be shaken, 
or whether it shall be maintained'? It is not a question whether one party 
or the other shall succeed ? I myself am an old-fashioned democrat of the 
straitest sect, and I do not inquire who administers this government ! 
[Cheers.] I would preserve this great edifice, founded with blood and tears, 
wrought out by our Revolutionary sires, and it will be in time to inquire 
who shall tenant that edifice after this rebellion is over. [Loud applause.] 
Listen not to him who cries " Lo, here," or " Lo, there," and attempts to 
excite party prejudices and to climb up by the back door on the slippery 
and tilthy step-stones of party discipline. [Loud cheers.] Inquire who is 
for his country? Who is on the Lord's side? [Cheers,] Who will 
stand for the edifice '? and not what are his political antecedents. What 
he does to-day is of great consequence ; what he did before the rebellion is 
of very little ! [Loud cheers and laughter.] We want men who will stand 
for the country ! We want men whose moral and material muscle stands 
out like whip-cord ! In this great controversy we want men who will bare 
their bosoms to the shock and defy the boasted assault of treason. [Cheers,] 
. Quite recently I have heard that a great political discussion was held ia 
this city, between the British minister. Lord Lyons, and some individuals who 
had crawled into the democratic lion's skin [laughter], and brayed accord- 
ingly. [Cheers and laughter.] Loi'd Lyons, I believe, is a gentleman, a 
foreign minister, and representing a government that puts robbers and the 
robbed, a government and a conspiracy, upon the same footing, why, I 

8 



114 

think lie did very well ! [Laughter,] Since his government decided that 
thu.->o who stole and those stolen from we -e both belligerent equals, and to 
be treated exactly alike, I think their mil ister did very well. [Laughter.] 
Since his government fitted out, or permitted to be fitted out, pirates to 
cruise not merely against the commerce of the world, but against the com- 
merce of the United States, I think Lord Lyons played his part very well, 
and I have no complaint to make of him. But as to these 290s of the 
Democratic party, I have something to say of them [laughter]; the I'obbers 
who are cruising against the peace of tliis nation. What is tlieir po.sition? 
They democrats? Democrats! [Laughter.] Andrew Jackson was a 
democrat ! I wish they would put themselves; into communication with 
his spirit a little while! [Laughter.] If the old gentleman can-ies his 
cane yet, there would be some rapping ! [Laughter, and a voice, " He 
would hit Fernando Wood with it,"] Let us see what is their position ? 
They sit down with the representative of a government known to be un- 
fi'iendly to us ; a government who wishes to see this government destroyed, 
because it is the hope of all free governments throughout the world. They 
sit down in his presence and connive schemes for the overthrow, disrup- 
tion, and destruction of this government of revolutionary memory, and 
baptized with the warm blood of our ancestors! They beseech him not to 
let the powers of Europe come forward in the matter now, because it would 
be premature ; but to keep the hand of Great Britain out of view while 
she plays an active part. Why ? Because there is an hereditaiy recollec- 
tion of her villanies and atrocities and persecutions. [Cheers,] Now, I 
say once fur all, and knowing what I say, and meaning what 1 say, and 
speaking in italics and capitals [laughter], I say for pure umdloyed ras- 
cality, for double-distilled vlllany, there has been nothing recorded .since 
the days of Pontius Pilate as infamous as that. [Great applause.] Who 
are the individuals, I want to know? 1 am told they are democrats? 
They arc (/tv/io/;crats. [Great laughter and loud applau.se.] I would 
like to know who they arc. [A voice : "Wood."] 1 mean to go and 
look in the Rogue's Gallery, to see if I camiot finil their portraits there! 
[Laughter.] Their names will stand high upon the roll of infamy ; and 
if they are not placed in the highest niche in that temple, and are not hc- 
corded a proud place in the public pillory, then they will never receive 
what they are entitled to. [Cheers and laughter.] Wlien this rebellion 
broke out, our " belligerent equals" had stolen our arras and munitions, 
and sent our navies adrift beyond our reach. But two years have gone 
over, and there never was a government, even Koine in its proude.>it days, 
that has done what this government has done. It has raised an army that 
makes the earth throb at every trwid as though it were the convulsions of 
a Nolcano. Jt has iiKii and material, and in the energies of its people, it 
has shown what no other government, ancient or moihrn, has ever shown ! 
[Cheers.] 'J'he rebellion is yet upon us ; but how ? Look over Virginia, 
that cheated her people into sece.svion ! If the .<even vials of CJod's wrath 
hail been poured uul niton that stale, it could haitlly be more blasted than 
it is now ! 

They have lost all hope of foreign intervention. Louis Napoleon, who 
was 80 ambitious to stride so far ho could not gatiier, has found enough to 
do in otiier sections of the country; and Givat Britain, although Ku.si^ell 
Bpout.'*, and I'alincrston complains, and although tlio.sc fools, Lindsley 



115 

and Gregory, may make a noise, yet Great Britain knows altogether too 
much to meddle in this affair. [Cheers and laughter.] She has some 
knowledge of this people alrea ly, by two efforts, which, as a nationality, she 
has not forgotten. [Loud cheers.] And although she did hope this contro- 
versy would divide and destroy us ; and although her aristocracy — her rotten 
aristocracy, that leans against her public debt, and her public debt against 
them, like two drunken men supporting each other [laughter], and both of 
whom will fall when one gives way a little [renewed laughter] — yet her 
people, with- John Bright, and Cobden, and the loyal masses, are in our 
favor. [Loud applause.] And the government and aristocracy, after put- 
ting on their spectacles to look at us, concluded they could see just as well 
a little farther off. [Cheers and laughter.] She, therefore, has not med- 
dled ; and France is not to meddle. Then what is the hope of the re- 
bellion ? She has taken up all her cons-cripts already. It is at the South 
now as it was in that Ai'abian country, when the mother said : 

" My daughter, it is time that thou wert wed — 
Ten summers, already, have passed o'er thy head ; , . 

I must find thee a husband, if, under the sun 
The conscript bill has left us one.'"' 

[Cheers and laughter.] She has taken the young and the old. Their sub- 
stance is eaten out, and the confederate notes are not worth a shilling a 
peck. [Loud laughter.] Their only hope rests now upon disloyalty and 
division at the North. They are looking eagerly to the Knights of the 
Golden Circle, and to parties inaugurated to aid the rebellion in the sacred 
name of democracy. But they will be disappointed ; and they will find a 
bm'Sting public o[jinion that shall sweep all these reptiles, these lice, frogs, 
and locusts of this modern Egypt, away into the Red sea together. [Loud 
applause.] 

I started with this rebellion — with one great idea — that it had to be 
cleft from crown to heel ! There was no other way of disposing of it — 
never had been, and never will be. [Cheers.] There is no way it can be 
disposed of except by crushing it to the earth ! [Loud applause, and cries 
of " good."] All the rest is idle; you cannot treat this rebellion to equal 
doses of politics and powder ! [Laughter and cheers.] It is a dark con- 
spiracy ; a rebellion of ambitious politicians. It is not an outbreak of 
the people. The people of the South are, many of them, loyal and hon- 
est ; and if you take away the revolvers from their ears, they will come 
back and rally around the glorious old stars and stripes again. [Loud 
cheers.] And those conspirators came forward into the various offices of 
the government, the Cabinet, the Senate and the House of Representatives, 
and laid their hands upon the holy evangrlists of Almighty God, and swore 
in his name that they would support the Constitution. Those same men, 
while that oath was yet warm upon their lips, committed perjury that would 
make hell blush, by slinking away into some dark corner to plot the 
destruction of the very government they had just sworn to maintain! 
Yet we are told that the only way to deal with such men is, to hang out 
the olive-branch of peace to them ! I am for the olive-bi'anch myself, but 
I want it to be a stout tree, and about eight feet from the ground [great 
applause and laughter] and have a good strong rope hanging at the end 



116 

of it. [Renewed laughter and cheers.] That is the way to treat the 
leaders of this rebellion. [Clieers.] 

It is a question between rebellion and government, and there can be no 
compi oniij^e- You might as well compromise l)et\veen light and darkness ; 
and any one, if lie is a man of ordinary intelligence, who should attempt 
to compromise, is a traitor to his country. [Cheers.] I denounce him as 
such, and I will tear the mask from his face whoever he may be, and 
whatever di-guise Iv^ may take on. [Great applause.] Yet we hear men 
say every day, "Oh, lam for the war, I am for t lie Constitution; but I think 
we ought to li'cat them with more lenity ; give them propositions of peace, 
and extend the olive-brancli to them. I am opposed to employing negroes 
as soldiers, because it is injurious to their feelings." [Lauglitcr and cheers.] 
I look over this vast exps'.nse of rebellion. How many brave spirits have 
been (pienched fonver for the purpose of maintaining the glorious institu- 
tions of our country ! And shall they be yielded up now ? We must 
either lay down our arms, or else siunmon renewed energy, and go as one 
man to hurl the whole power of the greatest free government on earth 
upon this rebellion, like one great thunder-storm, and blast it forever. 
[Great ap|)lause and booming of cannon.] " O, but," they say, " we are 
afraid that the Constitution and slavery may sutter. [Laughter.] Slavery 
has assembled and dispersed conventions ; it has put up and put down pol- 
iticians ; it litis made the mean mighty and the little great, and they hate 
to lof'C such important political capital. [Cheers and laughter.] Now, I 
would not go out of the way after .^laveiy, or to get rid of slavery ; but 
you might as well expect to retain the wild game of the country after you 
had cleared it all up, as to retain slavery after the wave of rebellion passes 
over it. [Great applau.se tind cheers.] The abolitionists tried to make 
an impresf^ion upon slavery for thirty years without any succiss ; t lie se- 
cessionists made it in owe.' [Great laughter and loud applause.] They 
are altogether the better abolitionists of the two ! [Great a|)plauhe.] The 
abolitioni.-^fs never got the thing in motion ; but the secessionists have got 
it in motion so it will never stop. [Cheei*s.] Stop rebellion to-day, and 
slavery will '' march on," like John Brown's ghost. [Laughter ] It hji8 
gone up, gone down, and gone away [loud cheers and laughter] ; a~ a po- 
litical institution, it is gone forever. [Cheers.] Xenophanes, the great 
Greek transmigrationist, beseeclied a friend to stop the chastisiinent of a 
dog, for he thought he recognized in the howl of the dog the voice of a 
deceased Iriend [laughter] ; and liiere are a great many politicians 
who don't like to have slavery disturbed, for they think they recog- 
nize the voice of a deccasul fiiend in it! [threat laughter, and long and 
loud chi'iTs.] 1 have never seen tiie day, from the lime the liist kernel of 
powil' r was burned on Fort Sumter, that I wouhl not have employed ev- 
ery negro, every white n)an, every woman, and every child, of all com- 
plexions, and in any and every way which would tend to the cru.-hing out 
of this reliellion. [Tremendous applause.] i would put forth a blow, 
and sli ike tliem where they would feel it most. I wouM not draw a bow at a 
venture; I would draw a good sight, and take good aim at the vitals t)f this 
infaiDous monster. [Loud cheers.] 1 don't want any compromise until this 
(juestion is .settled, and until we have a peace that is going to be a j)eacc ! 
[cheers] a pcaee anchored upon a safe and t-ure fotnidal ion stone. [Cheers.] 
1 object to the in.-tilution of shnery in our government, or political life, 



117 

always, and from this day forward ! [Cheers.] I ol^ect to it as I would 
to a powder-liouse in the city of New York, because it is dangerous, and 
liable to blow us all to pieces. [Cheers and laughter.] I object to it be- 
cause it has been invoked as the means to destroy this great nation. I am 
for the Union, the whole Union, and nothing but the Union, against every- 
thing this side Heaven. [Most enthusiastic applause and cheers.] This 
genial air, this bright sun, this glorious surrounding of popular hearts, 
tell me that this rebellion is doomed ! [Cheers, and cricS of " Good."] 
It tells me, what I believed from the beginning, that whom the Lord loveth 
He chasteneth. We shall rise higher, stronger, mightier and purer than 
ever, after this storm has howled itself to rest. [Great applause.] The 
ocean may cast up her mire and dirt in the mighty heavings and agitations 
of her bosom ; the lightnings may flash athwart the sky ; the thunders 
may roar in the distance, and the winds may howl ; but I tell you, tlie sun 
of this Union will rise again, with the promise of a fair day, and God's 
children will stand upon the great principle of equality in this Western 
hemisphere. [Tremendous applause, and three hearty cheers for the 
speaker.] 

After an interlude of music by the band, Mr. Butler introduced the 
Hon. Henry Wilson of Massachusetts, who was received with three 
cheers. 

SPEECH OF THE HON. HENRY AVILSON OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Mr. Chairman and Fe[.low-Citizens of New York : The banners 
of more than a thousand regiments of loyal men of our country are to-day 
waving in the beams of yonder setting sun in the land of rebellion. Three 
quarters of a million of our countrymen, of our neighbors, of our friends, 
are bearing the banners of their country to-day on the soil of the rebel 
states. They are around Charleston [cheers] ; on the shores of North 
Carolina ; with Banks near the mouth of the Mississippi ; with Grant 
around Vicksburg ; with Rosecrans around the immortal tield of Murfrees- 
boro [loud cheers] ; Avith Fighting Joe Hooker on the banks of the Rap- 
pahannock. Your cheers, your voices, the beatings of your loyal hearts, 
will reach them ; and as they look tlie foes of their country in the face, 
they will be stronger because the men of New York are behind them. 
[Cheers.] Our brave soldiers in the field, in the langu.nge of Gen. Stone- 
man, one of our bravest and truest soldiers, say that while they hate the 
rebel in front, they despise the ti'aitor in the rear [cheers], and they would 
delight to hang the one as well as to shoot the other. That is the senti- 
ment of three fourths of a million of brave men who are bearing the ban- 
ners of the Republic. The gentleman who preceded me said to you, and 
he said truly, that the hopes of the rebel chiefs were in the division of the 
people of the loyal states. It was my fortune — my sad fortune — to sit 
with those rebel leaders in the session of '60 and '61. Then they were 
preparing the country for revolution. Day after day we sat in the Senate 
of the United Stales — in the House of Representatives — and saw these 
rebel leaders plot for the overthrow of the Republic ; and I say to you to- 
day, gentlemen, that their hopes rested upon two things — one, the inter- 
vention of England or France through the power of King Cotton ; and the 



118 

other, division in the Northern states. They believed that the city of New 
Yoi'k would raise the ciy of " bread or blood ;" they believed that the 
loyal men hastening to the defence of the menaced capital would bo sniitten 
down on the pavements of the city of New York. Jetierson Davis, in the 
session of 18G0, said to me on the floor of the Senate that he was assured, 
m the language of one of his friends in the North, tiiat if this contest came 
to blows tho}' would throttle us in our tracks. But, gentlemen, you all re- 
member that when, two years ago, the banners of our country went down 
beneath tlie consuming fires of the batteries upon Fort Sumter, that the 
people rose in their majesty as one man for the support of the country. 
[Cheers.] 15ut you remember, also, with what amazement the rebel chiefs 
received the intelligence of that uprising of the freemen of the North. 
Russell tell us in his Diary that he found eveiywhere in the South the 
greatest amazement that the people of the North were united to upliold the 
cause of our country. But, gentlemen, we know while the people of this 
country — the masses — rose to sustain their government, to sustain the 
cause of human liberty in the Western World, that tiiere were men who 
bowed to public oj)inion, but whose hearts were black with sympathy with 
traitors. [" That's so."] Misfortunes came upon us, death entered al- 
most all our dwellings, our brave men were smitten down on many battle- 
fields, trials came upon the people, our hearts throbbed sadly and heavily, 
and then it was that these men the rebel chiefs relied upon to come to the 
rescue and save them — to bathe our streets in blood and overthrow the 
govenmient of the country — began to demand a peace that was to blot 
this nation for ever from the annals of mankind. But, gentlemen, thanks 
to God, thanks to the people of this countiy, they are rising again, and 
copperheadism is slinking away. [Loud cheers.] The heel of the Ameri- 
can people is pre.'^sing that serpent's head. [Kenewcd applause.] And 
now, gentlemen, 1 say to you to-day, that while the rebel chiefs give up 
the cause of foreign intervention, they yet rely on the secret orders of the 
Knights of the Golden Circle ; they rely upon men who preach peace, 
when there can be no peace, with the salvation of our country. [Cheers.] 
But, gentleuien, my faith is strong— strong in the people of the United 
States, strong in the progi'ess of human events, strong in Democratic insti- 
tutions, and strong in that God that rules over the aflairs of men. 
[Cheers.] The cause in which we ai"e engaged is the cau.se of nattoual 
uiiiti/ ; and the life of this nation, the existence of this North' American 
Kepublic, is at issue ; and that is not all : the cause of human liberty in 
America is at i-sue — the cause of toiling millions of the North American 
Republic. There is an inlluenee on earth that elevates and adoiiis human 
character that is with us and lighting lor us in this gnat battle in which 
we are engaj:e<l. There is not a man who cannot tiikc tl.e cause of our 
country home with him to-night, and read his Bible, and on his bended 
knees invoke the bh-s.'^iiig of Almiglity God u|)on the cause of our connnon 
country. It is a cause that a man may bo proud to toil for, labor for, and, 
if need be, prouilly to die for. [Cheers. ) The other day, away up in the 
interior of this state, a gaUant and gray-headed old soldier lay dying. In 
his liu^t moments, Avhen life was flickering, he called for a glass of wine, 
and, hohiing it up, said: ''(iod bless my country, the United Slater of 
America!" an<l the brave old .><oltlier pa.^sed uway with the nohle and pious 
tenlinicnt upon his lips. And there is not a brave soldier battling in the 



119 

field under the flag of our country, there is not a man in Ameiica that may 
not invoke these utteiances of Gen. Suraner, and ask God to bless our 
country, tl.r United States of America. [Cheers and the boom of cannon,] 

Now, gentlemen, we should give to the government of our country our 
support, not because it is a republican administration, I don't as^k that ; 
if it was a democratic administration I would support it because duty to 
my country demanded it [great applause] and I am proud to know there 
are many democrats who are giving to this administration all their moral 
support, and all the votes they have to give. [Cheers ] The Committee of 
Military Affairs of the Senate, of which I am chairman, had upon it four 
republicans and three democrats ; 6,825 names have passed before that 
committee ince the war, and I say to you there never was a partij divis- 
ion in this committee since the war commenced [cheers]. I find here to- 
day the letter of Senator Rice of Minnesota, a' member of that committee, 
in which he says a peace democrat is a disunionist, and there can be no 
peace with disunion. 

But, gentlemen, our duty is to forget all partisanship, forget all memo- 
ries of old conflicts, and bury them deeper than plummet ever sounded 
[cheers I, and go for om* country, our whole country and nothing but our 
country ! [Great applause.] I hail and welcome these Loyal Leagues and 
I hope every true man in the country will enroll his name among them, 
and I agree with Mr. Seward, that I would put my name down on all of 
them if I could ; and I hope there will be no rivalries or jealousies among 
these organizations : I hope they will all co-operate and bind themselves 
together, and move straight forwai'd and onward to uphold our country 
and to fire the hearts and nerve the arms of our brave soldiers to battle 
for the cause of our country in the field. [Loud cheers.] As republi- 
cans aud democrats all of us should support the government of our coun- 
try, and carry the nation in triumph through this contest, and then, after 
we have unitedly saved the nation from a slaveholders' rebellion, if Ave 
cannot stand together to administer the government, we will yield to bet- 
ter men than ourselves. [Great applause.] For my part I look to no fu- 
ture except to carry the nation through in triumph and extend its authority 
over every foot of territory [cheers], I have no calculations for any future 
administi-ation ; aU ideas associated with party dwarf and sink down in 
the presence of the mighty events now upon us. The highest and loftiest 
duty ever committed to men is committed to us now ; and that duty is to 
save our country, and preserve the life of our nation. [Loud cheers.] Yes, 
gentlemen, we will do it, I have undoubting faith that we shall do it ; I 
entertain not a shadow of a doubt of the triumph of our cause [cheers], 
I never have doubted ; amid defeat, darkness, and disaster — I had faith 
that this people would rise and stand up for the country, that they would 
cultivate patience and toleration, and above all that endurance that wins 
and triumphs in the end. [Great applause.] I have seen more enthusiasm 
in other days than in this, but we have, now come to the sober second 
thought which is based upon the sentiment and the heart, upon the con- 
victions and the judgment, upon the aspirations and the soul of the people. 
It is the result of reflection — it comes from trial, and it will live and last, 
and carry us gloriously and triumphantly through. [Great applause, and 
three cheers and a tiger for IMr. Wilson.] 



120 



SPEECH OF JAMES AV. NYE. 

Amid loud cheers James W. Nye was then introduced to the vast audi- 
ence, and spoke as follows : 

Fem.ow-Citizens ofNeav Youk: laninot a stranger toyou, and although 
nnj' home is now a distant one I feel quite at home here in the city of New 
York. I have seen her thousands marshalled before and I hope in the 
paradise of God to see them marshalled again, but }ou were never mar- 
shalled on a more eventful day than this 11th of April! When I stood 
in the Capitol of the nation and received the intelligence that Fort Sumter 
had been fired upon I made a covenant then, which I dare not break, that 
I never would lay down my anus, till the glory of that old Hag was re- 
deemed. [Great applause.] That covenant I have carefully kept, and 
thougii divided from you by. vast plains and rivers, oceans and mountain 
hciglils, I found 3,000 miles distant, Avhen I arrived in .the territory of 
Nevada, my old acquaintance the stars and stripes [great cheering], and 
there they will float fcr ever, for whatever may be the late of tlie At- 
lantic slope there shall be one Switzerland in America. [Cheers and 
cries of "Good," " Good."] We will barricade our mountaiu fastnesses, 
and there the old stars and stripes .'^hall float. [Great apjilausc.] 
They floated first upon New England's soil, and that genius and 
inspiration was caught up and sent out to the Alleghanies and the 
nation, weak and few in numbers but strong in determination and 
will, made it our standard sheet for ever, and no hand of rebellion and no 
foieign power shall ever wrest that old flag from us. [Loud cheers and cries 
of "Never, never."] The stars are the eyes of a watchful and vigilant peo- 
ple, and the stripes are emblematical of the tribute our fathers paid to 
Britain in two wars. [Immense applause.] I look, my fellow-citizens, 
upon this rebellion differently from most men — I think it is a good thing. 
[Sensation.] Now don't be alarmed till I exi)lain. [Laughter.] The 
spiiit of '70 had died out ["That's i^o "], and wanted resurrection! and 
thank God we have got it! [Great aijplause.] It wanted ivgeneration 
[loud cheers] ; it needed rebaptism, that baptism needed to be in blood — 
and we have got it! [Cheers.] Though it may clothe your I'aniily and 
mine in the habiliments of mourning, yet a glorious iuture will be a 
recompense for all our Avoes ! [Ijoud cheers.] When this rebellion is 
crushed out, for two centuries we shall be able to sit down under our own 
vine and fig-tree, with none to molest and make us afraid ! [Loud cheers.] 
Ri'licliion at the South and Copperheadism at the North will be seen 
walking two by two into a pt)litical potter's field, as the pairs walked into 
the ark [great laughter and ajiplause], and there they will be buried for 
ever [" -Vnien," and loud cheers], and thoy onglit to be ! [Renewed ap- 
|)lau-f.] We are told that thi.s rel)clliun caniK)t be put down by arms. 
But we can Iteat the worlil, whatever arl)iler or arbitrament thi-y choose. 
[Cries of " That's .so," and applause.] Tliese rebels have chosen ihe arbitra- 
ment of the b\dlet insiiad of the ballot, and we will beat them at that! 
[Great applause; and cries of " Good, good.'"] And the man is bliniler 
than a meadow mole and n>ore deaf than an ailder, who will not hear the 
charmer, charm he never ho sweetl;^, who scis anything else but final tri- 
umph in this .struggle. [Loud cheers.] They tell us, we shall be loaded 
down ' itii taxes! Now there is one thing I want to say in all earnest- 



121 

uess, that when I see a man with a pencil behind his car, and a card, 
figuring up what he can make out of the country, in this hour of our na- 
tion's struggle — he is a traitor! [Immense applause, cries of "That's so" 
and " Good." J I want to see armies of men inquiring what they can sacri- 
fise to save their country. [Loud cheers.] Our mothers parted from our 
fathers, and buckled the armor on to their only sons, and kisi=ed the last 
tear from off" their cheek ; and bid them go forth in the hour of the Revo- 
lution, to b»ttle for freedom or die ! [Loud cheers.] They returned 
crowned with this rich inheritance of personal and political freedom. 
That inheritance was intrusted to us, and we are the executors of that 
rich legacy, and we will sustain it for ever. [Great applause and cries of 
" We will," " We will."] But we are told that we make no progi-ess! 
Sir, the moon has not 24 times filled her horn since this Rebellion broke 
out, and sir, that moon had 23 times filled her horn before England, 
France, Sardinia and the Turk, took the only fortress they ever did take 
in Russia, with all their combined armies ! [Tremendous npplause, cries 
of "Good" and "Bravo."] And yet we are told we don't fight fast 
enough. [Renewed applause.] I undertake to say, in full view of the 
history of the past, that no nation on earth, has ever shown so much 
recuperative and real existing power as this nation and as the people desi- 
rous of putting down this Rebellion ! [Loud cheers.] I have got a kind 
of inspiration that the stars and stripes, either now float over Fort Sumter 
or they will soon [great applause], gold-dealers and copperheads to the 
contrary, notwithstanding ! [Lnmense applause and laughter.] I know 
this Rebellion will be put down because it is wrong ! I know we shall 
succeed because we are riglit ! [Loud cheers.] Sir, I know one thing that 
copperheads don't know [cheers and laughter], and thank God they know 
a great many things that I don't know [great applause and laughter], I 
don't know enough to plot with anybody for the destruction of this glori- 
ous country ! [Groans for the copperlieads.] I do know enough to love this 
country with as unswerving and undying a love, as a son ever felt for the 
mother that bore him. [Immense applause.] I know that this nation was 
planted in faith ; it was watered by the blood and nurtured by the tears 
of as pure patriots as ever went forth to battle for freedom. [Loud cheers.] 
I know that enough of that blood courses in our veins, to give that eternal 
and abiding principle of freedom, a resurrection so that all Hell and 
Rebeldom combined cannot destroy it ! [Immense applause and cries of 
"Good, good."] 

Men of New York are you ready for this question [cries of " Yes, yes."] 
— Whether from this great pulsating beat of the nation your radiations 
shall be such as to inspire your distant brethren upon the far western 
coast, with an abiding belief that you are in favor of maintaining this 
Union ? [Great applause and shouts of " We are."] Then I will go back 
and report that New York is all right ! [Tremendous cheers.] 

He who believes that this country will not succeed is wanting in faith 
— Oh ye of little faith ! [Great laughter.] England fought France for 21 
years, Wales fought France 700 years and Ireland is fighting England 
still. [Great applause and laughter ; a voice, " May she succeed."] And 
yet we seem to be tired in 24 months. [Cries of " No, no."] If there is a 
man who has not faith, let him go among the copperheads! [Cheers and 
laughter.] A dreadful fate awaits all these traitors — a fate more to be 



122 

dreaded than the fall <if the dreadful avalanche — it will be an eternal abi 
ding sleep, so that one would doubt whether in the wisdom of God, they 
will be disturbed in the morning of the Resurrection [laughter and cheers], 
unless it Avill be to consign them to a deeper Ilell ! [Great applause and 
cheers, "They will file off to the left then."] I thank you for this 
hearing. [" Go on, go on."] It is very easy to say " Go on," but where is 
the wind to come from ? [Laughter and cheers] I have been speaking at 
anotlier stand and I am tire'l, but I would go on my bended knees on a 
pilgrimage from the heaving billows of the Atlantic to the quiet waters of 
the Pacific, to see restored to this continent, that glorious and benignant 
peace, that will bring with it, one people, one government, and one nation 
— and that we will have ! I want this people now to give three hearty 
cheers for the old flag. [Three tremendous cheers for the flag, and three 
more for the speaker.] 

SPEECH OF PROKESSOU JOHN A. PORTER. 

Profe.=sor Porter of Yale College was introduced and received with 
hearty cheers, and spoke as follows : 

Mr. Prksideni' and Fellow-Citizens : To-day I am not ashamed to con- 
fess myself a citizen of Connecticut. [Great applause and sir rousing cheers 
for Connecticut.] Copperheadism made it>* strike there, and it lias l)een 
trampled into the earth. [Loud cheers.] We met the enemy last Monday 
and as you know, we obtained a glorious victory, which sent a thrill of 
joy through all this great country of ours. [Cheers.] After a meeting I 
addressed a few evenings ago, I was introduced to the mother of the 
lamented Colonel Kingsbury, one of the glorious heroes of this war. At 
Antietam he was leading on his regiment to capture a bridge that was 
deemed important, when he fell pierced with a bullet, and he cried to his 
brave men, " Dash on and take that bridge, never mind me," and so he 
laid him down to die. Four men sprang from the ranks to lift him up, 
when four more balls struck liim, and he lav down and poured out his 
life in defence of his country. To soften the blow a dispatch was sent to 
his motlier, that the colonel was woimdcd : but she said, " 1 know what 
that means — the light of my life is gone out " — and this poor mother as 
she stood before me, looked as if tlie light of her life had gone out. I 
thought to myself, " Shall all these .«>acrifices be in vain ? — This blood poured 
out, these lacerated liearts, these poor stricken mothers and sisters and 
widows — are all these to be sacrificed in vain ?" My heart answered me, 
No ! " Koine lias not lost all her bived of noble sons ! " [Cheers.] The 
people of Hhode Island, Connecticut, and New York, are prepared to stand 
by the old (lag to tlic last ! 

" Flag of the lirnve ; tliy folds i-hiill lly, 
Tlie sign ofhopc nud triumph hin\i, 
VVlien s]u>nk8 the truiiipot's sigiml tone, 
And the loiip line coiikh pleniiiiiig on; 
I'>f yet tho life-blood, wiirin and wet, 
lliiH dininicd the glistiiiing l>ayonet, 
lOaeli Koiijier eye, shall hri^iitiy turn, 
To where thy meteor glories burn." 

Yc*: true to the Hag! every man of as, as our revolutionary fathera 
were, until from tli'; chain ol' hikes of the North to the gulf of Mexico at 



123 

t 

the South the old flag shall float again in triumph all over our fair land. 
[Great applause.] 

SPEECH OF JOHN C. MONTGOIHERT. 

Fellow-Citizens : I will detain you less than three minutes [cheers] ; 
as no doubt there are a great many democrats among us, I wish to relate 
two incidents with regard to the two rebel ambassadors at France and 
England. First, about James M. Mason. I have known him for a long 
time, and although always of diiFerent parties, we were always on terms 
of intimacy. Some years ago, Mr. Mason was at my house and a friend 
called to see me, and I introduced Mr. Mason to him as " My democratic 
friend, Colonel Mason of Virginia." Mr. Mason turned around to me 
and said, " Montgomery, I shall be most happy to be introduced to your 
friends ; but I want you to understand, that hereafter you must introduce 
me as your 'republican friend,' not as a democrat, for, by God, I believe 
democracy unconstitutional." [Laughter.] I have also known the other 
rebel commissioner a long time — John Slidell. He called himself a 
democrat and I was an old whig, but never tainted with copperheadism. 
[Three cheers for the " old whig."] I fought for my country in the 
second war of Independence [cheers], and my father before me fought in 
the Revolution ; and I am ready to tight noAv for the good cause [loud 
cheers] although I am somewhat turned of 48. [Laughter and cheers — 
Mr. M. appearing to be nearer 70.] In 1840, when General Harrison 
was a candidate for the Presidency, I determined to devote all my energies 
to securing his election. John Slidell called at my house and referring to 
my efforts, he said he could tell me something that would deter me from 
ever supporting him. I said, "You cannot do that." He said he was in 
Cincinnati at one time, and met there a Colonel Wilkinson and they em- 
ployed a hack-driver, who drove his own coach, to carry them to General 
Harrison's country-seat at North Bend. When they got there General 
Harrison w^elconied them very kindly, and told the driver to take his 
hor.ses to the stable and then come in, and at the dinner-table the hack-, 
man was invited in and took dinner with them ; and " Now," said Slidell, 
" would you vote for a man, for the Presidency, who would invite a hack- 
driver to dine at the same table with gentlemen ? " I thanked him for 
his stoiy and told him I would use it, and that I was not ashamed to vote 
for any man who would invite a man who di'ove a hack, if he was honest 
and respectable, to dine at the table with a prince, if necessary. [Loud 
cheers.] 

SPEECH OF G. W. ELLIOTT. 

Mr. Elliott, a merchant from London, was the next speaker. He 
said : 

Men of New York : I speak to you as men of what I believe to be the 
greatest free nation of the earth. Your nation is to-day engaged in a 
struggle such as no nation has gone through. You are to-day distracted 
with a violent attempt to separate you and destroy the great fabric which 
has cost so much, and taken so many years to build. I fervently hope 
you are to put down this rebellion, and I believe you will. Men of New 
York, it has been told you that England does not sympathize with you, 



124 

but believe it not ! England, in her great heart — her popular heart — 
sympathizes Avith you thoroughly. [Cheers; a voice, "Can't ?ec it."] 
England is not easily moved ; and it'takes a long time before her popular 
heart is stirred up, but you may be sure that the true heart of the nation, 
her masses, do sympathize with you thorougldy and deeply ! [Cheers.] 
Her aristocracy, and especially her would-be aristocracy, of course look 
on a popular government like this, with feelings of very Uttle kindness. 
Well they may, for they know that all the tinsel adornments and gaudy 
trappings, and all that is not real manhood, Avhen it comes to such a 
nation as this, is stripped from a man, and he stands before them for what 
he is. [Clieers.] In England it is said of you men of New York, that you 
care not for the Union. Contrary to my own interest, I have always 
maintained that this was a lie. Is it not so ? [Cries of " Yes," and cheers.] 
I say to you, that this battle must be maintained and carried through suc- 
ces.sfully at all hazards. The gi'cat monarchies of Europe are watching 
you very carefully, and I tell you, if you obtain a victory, you obtain it 
not only fur yourself, but for all the Avorld ! [Cheers.] You must carry 
this war through successfully for the benefit of all posterity. [Cheers.] I 
rely upon you that it shall be done. And when this glorious American 
flag, the stars and stripes, shall float victoriously over every state in all 
this broad land, and you shall be a great united people, a happy people, 
you will pi-esent to the whole world such a spectacle as no other nation 
can show ! [Loud cheers, '* Go on, the London Times won't print your 
speech."] 

SPEECH OF COLONEL NTGENT. 

Colonel Nugent of the 69th Eegiment was received with three hearty 
cheers. He said : 

My Fkiends : I did not come here to make a speech, but as a spectator- 
I am very proud to sec so much patriotism, and so many coming up to 
the support of the government, but I would be much prouder to .see one 
talf of you down in the anny of the Potomac, to till up the broken regi- 
ments there. I see a great many here tiiat I would take for recruits for 
the gallant noth. [A voice, " Give me $1,000 and I will go."] I don't 
want you, sir, we only want true men and volunteers. [Hisses and cries of 
" Copperhead."] Hut. gentlemen, I don't feel at home here, and I am 
not much of a *^peakcr. Put mo at the head of my regiment and I am at 
home, [(ireat applause.] 

Sl'KEClI OF F. E. EAMliEKT. 

Mr. I>\Mr.i.KT was the next and last speaker. lie appi'aled to his 
countrymtMi from the land of Erin, to stand by the flag of their adopted 
countr)', ami to support the government with all their means and power. 
He denounced the traitors who cry, "I'eace," and who would compromise 
with rebellion, and expressed liis confidence in all the measiu'c.^ of the 
admini.stration. 

The band then played "Old Hundred," and the vast audience dispersed, 
with tliroc tremendous chcci"H for the I'nitm. 



OFFICERS. 



STAND ]SrO. 6. 

Under cliarge of Committee of Arrangements, 

JOHN AUSTIN STEVENS, Jr., WILLIAM A. HALL, 

WOLCOTT GIBBS. 



President. 

WILLIAM E. DODGE. 



Vice-Presidents. 



0. V. S. Eoosevelt, 
Francis B. Cutting, 
Pelatiah Perit, 
Andrew V. Stout, 
Clarence A. Seward, 
Edward S. JaflEray, 
Moses H. Grin n ell, 
John D. Jones, 
A. C. Kingsland, 
James W. Beekman, 
H. W. BeUows, 
Frederick Sheldon, 
Archibald Philips, 
J. Evarts Tracy, 
H. A. Wilhehn, 
Hamilton Bruce, 
C. C Pinckney, 
Alfred Schermerhorn, 
Henry L. Pierson, 
Frank W. BaUard, 
Lorenzo Draper, 
John Sedgwick, 
John Cooper, 
Sheppard Gandy, 



Warren Ward, 
John S. Giles, 
James W. Otis, 
David Dudley Field, 
Henry A. Smith, 
Wade B. WorraU, 
Gottlieb Dietler, 
George W. Blunt, 
Stephen H. Tyng, jr., 
John H. Williams, 
Frederick Eauchfuss, 
D. Huntington, 
WiUiam Post, 
John Meeks, 
John W^atson, 
James A. Briggs, 
John Trenor, 
Archibald Hall, 
Morris Franklin, 
James Gallatin, 
Horace Green, 
F. E. Wellington, 
Edward Leonard, 
Andreas Whitman, 



126 



Epes P. EUery, 
George H. Moore, 
Joseph P. Norris, 
Samuel T. Bridgliam 
William A. Martin, 
D. H. Gildersleeve, 
G. W. Hayes, 
A. Davidson, 
Thomas L. Thomell, 
James E. Spalding, 
Frederick A. Coe, 
Frederick Kuhne, 
Morgan Jones, 



William E. Dodge, Jr., 
Jacob Herrick, 
Caleb Barston, 
W^niiam Jellinghaus, 
Daniel WeUs, 
Frederick G. Fosr, 
Daniel Coger, 
P. Eemsen Strong, 
Nathaniel Wooley, 
B. H. HoweU, 
David Golden Murray, 
WiUiam Black, 



Secretaries. 



Charles Nordhofi^ 
S. Hastings Grant, 
A. K. McMiUan, 
Lewis Carr, 
Oscar Schmidt, 
Edward Kiug, 
Edward WiUets, 
George F. Betts, 
Robert P. McBumey, 
F. M. Palmer, 
Ames L. Hastie, 
James F. Euggles, 
Joseph H. Choato, 



Daniel W. Berdan, 
W. S. Matthews, 
J. H. Frothingham, 
R. M. Strebeigh, 
Samuel Blatchford, 
John M. White, 
Pierre Humbert, 
Henry S. Fearing, 
Theodore Tilton, 
Edward A. Wetmore, 
Frederick W. Downer, 
Charles H. Swords. 



PKOGEAMME OF PROCEEDINGS. 
STAND No. 6. 



NOETHEAST CORNER OF UNION SQUARE. 

Salutes of Artillery hj the workmen employed by Henry Brewster ^ Co. 

1. Grand March, from " Le Prophete," of Meyerbeer, by Wiegand's Grand 

Band. 

2. William E. Dodge, of the Council of the Loyal National League, will call 

the meeting to order. 

3. Prayer by Rev. Thomas E. Vermilye, D. D. 

4. William E. Dodge, Jr., of the Executive Committee, will read the call for 

the meeting, and the list of Vice-Presidents and Secretaries. 

5. William A. Hall will read the address. 

6. William A. Hall will read the resolutions. 

7. Music by the Band. 

8. Senator L. S. Foster, of Connecticut, will address the meeting. 

9. Music by the Band — singing : " The Army Hymn," by Oliver Wend^ 

Holmes. " 

10. David Dudley Field will address the meeting. 

11. Music — singinor : " The Staf-Spang-led Banner." 

too r o „ 

12. James Wadsworth will address the meeting. 

13. Music — singing : . " Song for the Loyal National League," written ex- 

pressly for this occasion, by George H. Boker. 

14. George William Curtis will address the meeting. 

15. William E. Dodge, Jr., will read a poem, entitled " Those Seventy Men," 

written expressly for this occasion, by Mrs. Sarah H. Bradford. 

16. S. S. Chittenden will address the meeting. 

17. Music — singing : " Our Union," written expressly for this occasion, by 

Alfred B. Street. 



128 

This stand was located in the northeastern angle of Union Square. It 
bore the motto, " A common Union to maintain the power, ^lory, and 
integrity of the Nation." Salutes pealed from the lips of artillery, and 
at about 4 o'clock Wiegand's band struck up the Grand March from " Ijq 
PropliL'te." 

Wm. E. Dodge, Esq., of the Council of the Loyal National League, 
Willed tlie meeting to order, after which prayer was offered up by Rev. 
Dr. Vkkmii.yea. Mr. John A. Stkvens, Jr., then read the lif^t of 
Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the meeting. Mr. Stevens read, also, 
the resolutions, which were adopted unanimously. 

SPEECH OK DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. 

David Dudley Field, Esq., was then introduced, and spoke as follows : 
Fellow-Citizens : If I Avere asked to express in three words what 
appears to me the greatest needs of the country at this hour, I should say 
unity, counige, constancy. Without unity, our great prepondoraliug force 
dwindles into insigniticance. Twenty-three millions wield undoubtedly 
enormous power, equal to the suhjugatiou of all the rebels in the rebel- 
lious states. But if the twenty-three millions were made up uf tiiirteen 
millions loyal and ten disloyal, the latter niiglit neutralize an equid number 
of tiie former, and the force of the twenty-three millions would reiiUy be 
represented by three millions. So of greater or less proportions. We arc, 
therefore, untler a necessity, moral and political, to hibor with all our 
might to produce agreement among our people. Tlie nearer we can come 
to absolute unanimity the better. To that end, we must lay aside minor 
^fferences, and continc ourselves to the few essential, fundamental political 
Withs and rules of conduct that have rehition only to tlie overthrow of 
the Rebellion, liy the.se means, and tiiese alone, shall we be enabled to 
collect and use all our resources, for the m;untenance of the power, and 
the integrity of the nation, in its whole territorial extent. But without 
courage numbers will avail us little. It should seem strange that an 
exhortation to cournge can be necessiiry among the chihiren of our 
fathers. Our people have won their way by counigc to their present 
exi)anded greatness. From the time when our fathers landed on these 
shores, through all the hardships of settlement, through poverty and want, 
through perils from Indian savages, througli colonial wars, through the 
war for independence, through the long period of uncertainty and depres- 
sion which ensued through tlie political crisis which resulted in tiie estab- 
lishment of the Constitution, the war of 1812, and tiie war with Mexico, 
courage has been almost a .■'Niionym for tiie American character. But 
there is a moral as well as a physical courage, which shrinks trom no 
encrifices, luiiks iiniip[ialled upon rever.-es, iiears with ecpianiinity of delays 
and mistakes, and carries itself cheerfully, luitily, thiongh all \ icis>itudes. 
This kind ot courage, nut less than that which storms tortre.s>^es and leads 
coliiiniiH in the fitlil, is iiee<lid by us now; a courage which rejects the 
counsels of the tiuiid and time-serving, spurns every suggestion ot inglorious 
peace, sends none but encouraging words to tuir soldiers in the laiiLs, 
and makes ready to send more soldiers, and as many more as the country 



129 



may call, if it call for all we have. And yet, without constancy, courage 
may fail at last. In the difficult and novel circumstances in which the 
country now stands, we are liable to have repeated failures. Inexperience 
leads to mistakes; the difficulty of adjusting untried means to ends pro- 
posed brings after it frequent miscarriages, and these tend to beget in the 
end distrust, and the fear that we may not after all be able to overcome 
the difficulties in our way. But this is not the proper feeling for a heroic 
people. Constancy under all fortunes is the great Roman virtue, as the 
opposite quality is the curse of fickle and secondaiy nations. " Unstable 
as water thou shalt not excel," was the prophecy of the patriarch to a 
portion of his children. So it is now, and so it ever will be ; those 
nations only can hope to stand at the head of the world which never 
despair. Let us, fellow-citizens, stand together ; show the courage of our 
fathers, and the constancy of our race. So will our future be full of 
promise. Then shall we rise superior to any disaster and every embar- 
rassment ; and our children will thank God for our unity, our courage, 
and our constancy throughout the perilous times of the slaveholders' 
xebellion. 

Mr. Field was frequently interrupted by applause during the delivery of 
his address. 

SPEECH OF GEORGE AVILLIAM CURTIS. 

Mr. Curtis on being introduced was received with applause. He 
said: 

Mr. Chairman and Fellow-Citizens : Two years ago, when that flag 
came down, for the first time shot at in dishonor, and disgraced by Ameri- 
can citizens, there was but one feeling that ran through this land — a 
feeling so shuddering and appalling, that it was as when a great ship 
suddenly comes into the wind, and every inch of canvas flutters, and for 
a, moment there is a doubt whether the voyage shall be continued or 
whether the ship shall there go down. You remember, fellow-citizens, that 
the answer to that shot was given upon this place, where we stand to-day. 
You remember that the first answer was given by eloquent voices, whom it is 
well for us at this moment to recall, because they were voices of those 
who have sealed their fidelity with their Hfe's blood. Here, within the 
range of my voice at this moment, stood the gallant Mitchell, born in 
Kentucky ; and he, after his career, is silent. But you know his story. 
Here, within sound of my voice, stood the gray-haired Baker. He, too, 
has sealed with his life's blood the truth of his words. Eloquent in their 
lives, fellow-citizens, they were still more eloquent in their death ; and 
they are for ever eloquent, speaking to you and to me and to our chil- 
dren's children, for ever, in our hearts and in our history. Two years 
have passed. There are no longer but 800 soldiers and but $500,000 in 
the Treasury. Did you hear them speak t Then bend your head, and 
strain your ears this moment, and you shall hear also the thunders of an 
eloquence that shakes the very air, that dazzles the very splendor of the 
midnight heavens — the thunders of the belching fires of Dupont and the 
brave men with him, who now declare that that flag that was pulled down 
in weakness shall be raised in power ; and that as when it fell it was the 



130 

glittering shroud of every party line, and of all party differences wliatso- 
ever, so that now there are, there can henceforth be, but two parties in 
the land — theyAvho stand in open rebellion, with guns and cannon against 
it, and all other men who are resolved to sustain it, and that, God helping, 
if tliey cannot do the woik, tlien they will fall doing it, and transfer it to 
Sheir children, and their children's children to do, until all beneath the 
pall of party shall upbear the flag, and the stars are restored once more to 
the heavens whence they came. [Applause.] This, fellow-citizens, and 
not less, is the signiticance of the hour. It is to answer for us all whether 
we are a nationality ; it is to answer for us all whether there is something 
below all our ditferences, whatever they may be. This is a contest which 
has never changed its character; this is a contest, from the bcpiiniing, 
simply of the ballot-box. It is not long since I stood upon a platform 
like this side by side with a man whose every political theory I doubt not, 
differs absolutely and radically from mine. The gentleman of whom I 
speak has a name known to you, justly dear to you, peculiai'ly honored 
by every loyal man in the land at this moment, for he is James T. Brady 
of this city. [Applause] With Mr. Brady, bound upon the same mis- 
sion, I went into the state of Connecticut, and we went there, not as 
Connecticut men, but as citizens of the United States, interested to know 
whether other citizens of the United States living in that state were 
■willing to abandon the Union, dishonor the flag, and consent to common 
ruin. We .stood there side by siile simply to defend the ballot-box. 
Whatever differences Mr. Brady and I hatl before — and I believe they 
were radical upon every cpiestion — the moment the ass^ault was made upon 
that box, that instant Mr. Brady and every man like him in the country, 
and every loyal man of whatever complexion, knew no other party than 
the jjarty that would restore, by bullets if necessary, by every measure 
which the administration, which is the representative of this country, 
might call for, the ballot-box in all its purity, as the sole and single arbiter 
of every political difference in this land. That, fVUow-citizens, was the 
signilicanee of the meeting here two years ago. I stand before you, I 
trust, as a loyal may. I believe only one man in this city has made it his 
boast that he is not loyal. [A voice: "Fernando Wood."] It seems to 
me, fellow-citizens, that he might well have spared his breath : for 1 never 
knew that anyone suspected that gentleman of loyalty; or, if he ever 
was loyal, he has long ago gi\en it the b^nelit of the statute of limitation. 
[Uaugiiter.] But when he says there is no such sentiment as loyalty in this 
land, 1 hope the occasion of the hour may take him through the S(piaie in 
whieh wc stand, that he may see the hinidreds and thousands ol men, 
whii.><e brothers, sons, friends, stand etnliattleil from the Che,><apeake to the 
Mi.>^si>sippi, by sea and by land, brave men, united by one .<«entiment, and 
oiiC sentiment oidy, and that an unshrinking and eternal loyalty to the 
government whieh their fathers maile, whieh they have received, and 
which, by the grace of Goil, they will transfer unchanged to their children. 
[iV|)plau.se.] Now, then, lellow-citizens, undcr.-tan<l this one point, that 
the cll'ort to destroy the nation, which is no Iciw liian the United Slates of 
Ameiica, is simply to undo the laws of (iod. The union of the United 
Slate.s i.s an instinct. From the instinct of union in the people the Constitu- 
tion of the I'nited Stales sprang ; for it was the siiitinient of union that made 
the Conutitution, and not tiie Constitution that made the Union. The Unioa 



181 

is a fact of our existence ; it is a thought, it is a sentiment, you cannot repeal 
it, you cannot touch it in the least point, for it is in the heart of every 
citizen. And when we say Union, wlien I stand here and say to you that 
I belong to the Union, and that that flag stands for the Union, you all 
understand me to mean precisely what an Englishman means when he 
says England, precisely what a Frenchman means when he says France — 
and tliat is the essential nationality of this people. The Union is the form 
only, the Nation is the soul. To save the Union is to save the Nation. 
And, therefore, at this moment first and most truly in this hand the Union 
man is he who is resolved that there is, tliat by the grace of God, tliere 
shall be, but one government as there is but one nation, within our do- 
mains — that either this rebellion shall march trailing its tlag over us, until 
above our shame and "disgrace its flag sends its curdling and chilling shadow 
deep into the waters of the Lakes, or that the people of the United States 
of America — knowing all their strength is in union — will march triumph- 
ant over them, bearing that flag full of the hues of heaven, until its ancient 
splendor shall Hash the liberty with which it was first baptized far over the 
sparkling Avaters of the Gulf. [Applause.] Stand fast, then, by the 
Union. Understand that the Continental Congress adjourned that its 
best men might make the Constitution of the United States, and that the 
cause of the United States is the cause of human nature. It is therefore 
that this rebellion is so envenomed, and therefore that it stands so fast and 
so ably, because it knows that by the necessary development, by the necessaxy 
growth of the people of this country, whatever interferes with the rights, 
with the liberties, with the peace of any solitary citizen in the land, 
wherever he may be, that touches the liberty of all ; and that no man 
will I'est, that the nation itself will heave, until the rigiits of eveiy man 
have been fully vindicated. Now, fellow-citizens, this being so, the 
experience of two years has shown us two things : in the first place, that 
this nation is resolved to maintain its nationality ; and in the second place, 
that there is no conceivable result possible to the war in which we are 
engaged except the absolute victory or the absolute sulvjugation of the 
government of the United States. [Applause.] There is no possible 
ground between this. The gentlemen who have for a moment proposed 
compromise do injustice to the policy and sagacity of the men who have 
reared the black Hag of rebellion. The men who have raised the Hag of 
disunion do an equal injustice to the sworn conviction of every loyal citi- 
zen in the land. Therefore, understand me, that there can be but one of 
these two issues. You know which. In your own experience it is writ^ 
ten in many a household of yours in the finger of blood — it is written in 
your hearts, deep down, with all the earnestness of the most vital convic- 
tion. Understand that the moi'al of to-day is the moral of two years ago ; 
that there is henceforth no party among loyal men. We know there is 
none. We know this, fellow- citizens, that Jefferson Davis, of Missis- 
sippi, was no sounder man tried by party standards, than the old wiiite- 
haired man whose eloquence at a neighboring stand has thrilled you this 
afternoon. Whatever Jefferson Davis was as a party man that was Daniel 
S. Dickinson. But while the hand of Davis was raised to stab us, you 
know how the tongue of Mr. Dickinson has waved like a tongue of lire, 
defending and again defending as he has to-day the outraged honor of our 
dearest common mother and native land. [Applause,] And you know 



132 

further that however good a party leader in his day Mr. Breckinridge 
may have been, that Mr. DougUis was no way inferior to him, and his last 
words were of the most unswervinjr loyalty to his country and to the 
Union of the States. [Apt)Iause.] It was my special pleasure to say 
when it was my privilege to l)e in Connecticut, that if tiiey had produced 
in Coimecticut one known in party times as a democrat, who had .<ince 
jjisgraced tiie name, we in New York had produced another man known 
In party day.s as a democrat, who had not disgraced it, and that if Isaac 
Toucey had done all he could, as his own letters testify, to haul down that 
flag and di.-^grace it beneath the heel of Rebellion ; that John A. Dix, no 
less a man of standing in his party, had not hesitated to make the tele- 
graph and every brave man's heart thrill with the message : "Whoever 
hauls down that flHg, shoot him on the spot! " [Applause.] Yes, fellow- 
citizens, there we stood then, and here we stand now, unchanged. The 
ship was tossing then ; I grant you the ship is tossing now. But then it 
was in the wind; now it has laid its course; it has taken the full breeze, 
and its coinse is onward. But this understand, what, while the tempest 
howls, wliile the ship quiveiv in these dreadful billows red with blood, is 
the duty of every loj-al man ; what will every loyal man do ? He will ask 
himsell' liut one question: Does the captain, do the crew, mean right? 
Then, if they do, I will not trouble myself to have a better captain wiiom 
I may know, I will not trouble myself to call over the names of a crew 
that may to me seem abler than this. The ship is here ; the tornado is 
here ; the captain is here ; the crew is here — we are all in for the voyage. 
And whoever, knowing that that captain and crew desire only the safety 
of the ship and tiie passengers, whoever for an instant raises a voice against 
them, whoever him>elf desponds, desires or endeiivors to seduce loyal and 
brave men of the land from their obedience, mark that man well, for he 
shows himself a lineal descendent of the copperhead in Eden, who tried to 
giduce Eve from her obedience. [Lau<;liter and applause.] Stand fast, 
fellow-citizens, then, I abjure you ; stand fast by the Hag which is the 
symbol of ail that is precious to you — of all the liberties you ever had — 
of principles that at this moment keep this city in perfect peace; that at 
this moment maintain quiet throughout the broad region that is not touch- 
ed by the hand of Kebellion. Stand fast by the ti;ig, knowing this, that 
if we are not strong enough ; if, in our day, this tight cannot be fought 
out ; that it is a light whicii was born in us; it was bred in our bones; it 
flows in our blood ; we are tietl up to that issue; and when we lay in the 
graves those who went from us with bloom in their cheeks, with patriotism 
in their voices, with hope in their hearts — remember that when they went 
we held ourselves in camp by our lire,xides ready to follow; we Ijoid our- 
selves — every man of us who is loyal iiolds himself, at this moment, only 
waiting to hear what tlie government, whicli is tiie representative of the 
whole p(u|ile, demands of liiin, in order to sjiy, '' Keady ! Kcady ! 1 am 
here!" [Tremendous a|(plause.] Slillmore: If all wiio have gone — (rod 
rest their souls! — if all who are ready to go. young men who are strong 
men n(»w, will not sutliee, then shall the lime come when each one of us 
will transler it to his child, as the initst sacred duty he can perform, that 
he shall neither spare hiins<'lf nor allow his children's children to be spared 
in thi> struggle; and renewing once more our vows to the dear old Hag, 
wc wdl vow — aswcdo now here — God, and the shades of the august dead, 



133 

who have hallowed this very spot with devotion to the Union, witnessing 
it, we do here once more vow that, pure as its white, bright as its red, 
jfixed as its stars, is our faith in the national honor, in the national glory 
that that flag represents ; and that though it should cost us our lives, they 
shall be given, and the war shall go on — it shall be chronic in American 
blood — until that flag floats on every spot of American soil as calmly in 
the evening air as it hangs before you now. [Great and long-continued 
applause.] 

SPEECH OF S. B. CHITTENDEN. 

S. B. Chittenden, Esq., was the next speaker. He said: 

Feixow-Citizens : There can be nothing more timely or better calcu- 
lated to warm the hearts and exalt the patriotism of all who sincerely love 
their country, than this League and this vast meeting, and yet both have 
been, and will continue to be denounced by partisan presses and teachers, 
as instigated by federal office-holders for unworthy ends. I will not con- 
sume your time, nor insult your intelligence, by any refutation of this 
preposterous calumny. There is not a well-informed person within the 
sound of my voice who does not know it to be a wicked falsehood. It is 
a prodigious lie — a part of that refuge of lies which begot the rebellion, 
and by which it still lives, only to be so much the more accursed, when it 
shall be finally hurled to its righteous and ignominious doom ! 

Unnumbered thousands of true and loyal hearts, embracing all sects and 
all political parties, have devoutly prayed for this grand movement — for a 
National Loyal League — regarding such action indispensable for the sal- 
vation of our country; and I hail this League to-day, my countrymen, as 
a signal and sure pi'ophecy of a grand and glorious victoi'y and triumph 
for the Union over all its enemies. 

The time had come to draw the line. We cannot serve God and mam- 
mon. Those who refuse to sustain the government in this hour of its 
severest trial, are the enemies of their country, and the aids of Jeff. Davis. 
Such will be the burning record of impartial history. The rebellion must 
be put down with shot and shell, or the country is ruined. The rebellion 
never can be put down by conditional patriots. The rebels can't be 
whipped by men who fight them, shouting all the time at the top of their 
voices, " We can never subdue you : " nor by men who fight against them 
with an "if" of any sort. Away, then, with such folly, cowardice, and 
treason. Let us be men, and worthy of our noble sires. You, who are 
not unconditionally for the war, are against it. There is no middle 
ground. Thank God the loyal men of New-York have within a month 
spoken once, twice, thrice, and now speak again in a voice of thunder, 
re-offering the immortal declaration of Andrew Jackson, " The Union 
must and shall be preserved." The line is now to be distinctly and finally 
drawn. Seek ye to-day whom ye will serve. There is but one question 
before the country. Victory or death! The questions about tariffs, 
about finance, about slavery — all questions save one, are passed upon and 
adjourned. There remains but one question to be settled ; that is a mili- 
tary question. The fate of this great republic turns upon this. Disunion 
is impossible. Shall Jeff. Davis subdue the North, or shall the North 
conquer him? That is the question. Say^not that this is an error. 
Consult the evidence. 



134 

The rebels turn with ?corn and bitter execration fi-om the Woods, the 
Brookses, Vnlhindigham, and all such peace-at-any-price men as .Sc3iiiour 
of Connecticut : they insist peremptorily upon disunion as the first condi- 
tion of peace. This fact is perfectly established and undeniable by any 
honest man. To divide this country is to cut the spinal column, and 
death the inevitable result. Disunion, therefore, is victory for the Rebel- 
lion, and defeat and unspeakable disgi'ace to the nation, ^'ill you, will 
any man A^■ho was not born to be a willing slave, hesitate as to his duty 
in such a crisis? Shall the iron heel of the supremest despotism that ever 
trod the carlh, crush the necks of twenty millions of free souls? Shall we 
compel all future generations of Northmen to blush red with shame, that 
we could not defend the liberties our sires achieved for us? Oh! God 
forbid such degi'adation, sueh liuiniliation. Oli : spirit of "Washington — 
spirits of all the great and good men, by whose wisdom, valor and sacri- 
fices, the freedom of this people was purchased, save, oh ! save our country 
from such disgrace and shame ! 

Hut I\Ir. Brooks say.s the Kepublic is dead, and he has drawn black lines 
around siu-h obituary notice in his paper. Is that true, my fellow-citizens? 
Is the Kei)ublic dead? Shall it ever die? But, says Mr. Brooks, the 
Constitution has been violated. I do not admit this, but suppo.«e it to be 
true for a moment. What then ? Suppose Mr. Brooks, that an assassin 
should enter your house to-night, threatening your life and that of your 
family. You see him by the light of the moon standing by your bedside; 
his dagger is drawn, and he is braced to plunge it remoiselessly to your 
heart! Just behind him stand his negro servants beckoning to you as 
intelligil)ly as they can, that if you will be their friend they will as-ist you 
to .«ave your life and that of your family. AVhat will you do ? AVill you 
send for policemen, judge, jury, or the Constitution, to see what weapons 
they provide for you ? Certainly not. You will instantly tell the assas- 
sin's negroes that you will be their friend; you will .=eize any weapon 
within your read), and without the least hesitation or delay hurl any one 
of tliem at the head of the villain ; you will kill him on the spot if you 
can, and ghidly aceept all the aid his negroes can give. If you refu.se such 
aid, or he.-itate in accepting it, any friend and ac(]uaintance you have in 
the world will .cay, "Tlioulbol! thy own life is Ibrfeited. If with the 
aid of liis n(groes you kill the assassin, the world will applaud you, and 
your children's children to the latest generation will rejoice in your tri- 
umph. Is not the cas-e I have supposed the ca.se of our beloved country? 
Are we n(jt boimd to use all the weapons God has given us t Shall we 
stop to examine their strenglli ? Shall we not rather hiu-l them all against 
the foe with a .steadiiist, unllinching and holy pur|)ose to .sue tiie national 
life ! 

The Coii>litution has lu'cn discu.«sed since 178!) by all the ablest men 
the country and tlic world have produced, with indecisive results. Let 
this discus>i()n lie. resumed when the war is over. It is our present and 
instjuit duly to cru.^h the rebellion by any means in our power. I repcjit 
it: the only I ractical (piestion before u.s is a military <|uestion. AVe are 
to choose victory or de;iih ! Come, then, every true man! By all the 
IreaHiu'cd and inunortal memorials of the Kevohition ; by the sacrilice and 
deilth of I he great captains who have alreaily fallen in tliis slru^'gle; by 
the blootl of hundreds of thou.suid.H of our brave brutliers suiitten and slain 



135 

on the battle-fields ; by the death and sufferings of other multitudes in 
camp and hospital ; by the heroic martyrs who have been shot and gibbeted 
in every slave- state, for no crime but love of their country; by the words 
of weeping- friends who have freely given tlieir loved ones to die, that our 
great inheritance of liberty might be rescued from the grasp of an assassin ; 
by the undaunted heroism and genuine patriotism of the magnificent armies 
which remain in front, between us and the assassin ; by all the precious 
memories of the past ; by tlie grander and more glorious promise and 
prophecies of the quick-coming future, I implore my countrymen one and 
aU to sustain the government unconditionally, and may the old flag wave 
for ever ! 

" Over the land of the free and the home of the brave." 

SPEECH OF HON. JAMES A. BRIGGS. 

Amidst cries for "Fremont, Fremont," the President introduced Hon. 
James A. Bkiggs, who spoke as follows : 

Fellow-Citizens : I wish that Fi-e'raont was here to speak to you in 
thunder tones of the glorious proclamation of freedom that has gone forth 
from the chief magistrate of the nation. Not long ago most men were 
afraid to be called emancipationists, and had a perfect horror of being 
called abolitionists. That time has gone by ; at least the feeling which 
then existed so generally exists no longer in the minds of thinking men, 
and to call a man an abolitionist now does not stir his blood unpleasantly 
at all. 

The rebels, my friends, are not all at the South : some of them are here 
in our midst, — here in this great commercial emporium of the country, 
the city of New York, and it is your duty and mine to do all we can to 
counteract their influence. There are men here who are protected by our 
laws and institutions in their lives, their property, their reputation — in 
everything of theirs that requires protection — whose sympathies are all 
with the rebels, who are fighting against the United States government, 
by which these men are protected ; and I have no hesitation in saying 
that they should be smoked out by a correct public opinion. The men 
here who give aid and comfort to the I'ebels at the South should be 
arrested, indicted, tried, and if convicted, executed. [A voice : "Wood."] 
Let them take the penalty of the law. The lamented Douglas, whom all 
true democrats delight to honor, in the last speech he ever made, said 
that there were but two parties, patriots and traitors, and he was right. 
Now, as then, there are but two parties in the land, the party of patriots 
and the party of traitors. Those who belong to the first are bound to do 
all in their power to sustain the government ; and as for those who belong 
to the second, let them take the doom of traitors at the hands of the law. 
This government has cost something — it has cost long years of war and 
blood and toil, of privation and hei'oism, and it must now be preserved. 
We will, if necessary, go through the seven years' war a sGcond time, and 
sacrifice every man and every dollar to be found in the land rather than 
permit this government to be destroyed. [Applause.] But it cannot be 
destroyed ; it cannot die ; it will be as lasting and perpetual as time itself. 
Its foundation-stones were laid by freemen's hands, and cemented by free- 
men's blood, and the God of our fathers watches over it always, so that 



136 

it cannot die. Many of our men now in the field must go down to tlieir 
graves in tliis struggle, and many of them must go down there unkno^ai ; 
but those who in the next generation sliall read tlie history of our times, 
as we now read the history of times past, will find written high up upon 
the scroll of fame and immortality the names of the men who day by day 
are dying for the republic animated by a spirit as noble and self-sacrificing 
as that of the patriots and heroes of '76. [Renewed applause.] You 
have heard from the granite hills of New Hampshire, the land of Stark ; 
you have heard from tlie land of Greene, Khode Island ; and last Monday 
Connecticut, the land of Putnam, spoke out in a voice that all the copper- 
hea<ls in that state understand perfectly well. If those gentlemen had met 
together on last Monday night it seems to me that they would have had 
such a meeting as that of the~two unfortunates described by Byron in his 
magnificent poem, "Darkness," who, you remember, by tlieir mutual 
hideousness rlestroyed each other. All this is encouraging and as it should 
be ; but it is our duty to see to it that in this great centre of the trade, 
wealth and influence of the country, no traitorous teachings shall be per- 
mitted to take root, and that the hearts of its people shall now, as they 
have always done, beat true to the music of the Union. [Applause.] 
We want no reconstruction of the government of the United States. We 
want no change made in the old Constitution which bears the honored 
name of George Washington, President. [Renewed cheering.] We 
desire and intend to preserve that Constitution as it is : we would not 
change a single letter of it ; but we are determined that from Maine to 
California, from the Lakes on the North to the Gulf on the South, all men 
shall OAvn allegiance to it. 

As westand heie to-day in support of the Constitution and the Union, 
our noble officers and soldiers are rendering them more active service in 
front of Charleston, of the capture of which I trust we may be told before 
we dispense. And when Charleston is captured it should be razed to the 
earth and the ground on which it now stands ploughed over, so that men 
hereafter would be at a loss to tell the spot that it once occupied. I would 
have that city sacked and burned, the women and children spared of 
course, but the rebels in arms made to bite the dust ; and there is human- 
ity in the wish. These rebels North and South must be blotted out un- 
sparingly, and we must do it. There is no other coun^^e that we can take 
without dishonor to ourselves and to the country. 

I have already spoken of men in our midst wiio have no s3'mpathy with 
us, who arc not of us, who are alien in birth, in principles, in I'ccling, and 
in hojie. Such men come here merely to make money, juui they do not 
care which side wins. They liave no business here ; they do not belong 
to the country, and they ought to be put on board the vessels tliat brought 
them here an<l sent back to the Old World, there to have the iron heel of 
despotism grind into their necks inilil they can come to a land of freedom 
better prejmred. to appreciate it. Kvery one who is not witli us in this 
mouicntoiis struggle for national cxi.steiice is against us, and should be sent 
away. [Applau.sc.] 

I have spoken ol Charleston. Eighty-three years ago to-morrow that 
city was bombarded by the IJritisli under Gen. Clinton. In 18(il at four 
o'clock on the morning of the I2th of April, the rebels fired upon Fort 
Sumter. Let us liope and pray tlnit at tli.it hour to-morrow juorning 
Cliarleston uiuy be ours, and the old Hag lloat again over Sumter in 



187 

honor, in glory, and in power, never to be removed from that position un- 
til the hour comes, as come it must, when the last particle of light shall 
fall from the urn of expiring Nature. [Renewed cheering.] 

At the conclusion of Mr. Briggs' speech the President of the meeting 
said: You have heard from Nevada; you have heard from Ohio ; have 
you patience to listen for a few moments to one from Missouri'? [Several 
voices, "Yes," "Yes."] 

SPEECH OF MR. PARSONS. 

Mr, Parsons, of St. Louis, then came forward, amid applause, and 
spoke as follows : 

I thank you for this kind greeting, although I cannot, if I would, re- 
gard it as offered to me personally, since you do not know me nor I you. 
I accept it, therefore, as a tribute to the state from which I come. Do 
you remember that that state is claimed by the Southern Confederacy? 
You see before you a man who belongs to a state that is claimed by Jeff. 
Davis. [A voice : " You are not one of them."] 

I am not one of them, a friend here says, and he is right : I am not. 
I will tell you who I am ; I am that old man who, when it was dangerous 
in our city to say that you were a Union man, when there were three 
rebel flags floating there and only two Union flags, one from the State- 
House and the other from the City-Hall — I am the old man who then 
and there hung out the first Union flag that was hung out from a private 
residence. [Great cheering.] I was threatened and told : "Parsons, you 
will regret this ; it wiU not be sixty days until we have this city in our 
hands, and then you and others like you must look out." "Well," said 
I, " I cannot say you won't have it, but I do not think you will ; and you 
won't if I can help it. But if you do get it you must do one of two things 
with me — either send me out of the country or take my life ; for under 
the rebel government I will never live." ["Good," "Good."] I had 
two sons with Gen. Lyon, and the next oldest one wanted to go and Join 
Gen. Fremont's body-guard, but he was too young and not big enough. 

] expected that when I should get into the Free States away from the 
baneful influence of slavery, I would find none but loyal men ; but I have 
been very much surprised to find here and between here and there, seces- 
sionists far more numerous than in Missouri, a state claimed by the Con- 
federacy. This shovild not be so. I want to be able to go back to Mis- 
souri and tell our friends there that New York is now loyal, and that she 
is determined to stand to the old flag until the rebellion is subdued. Let 
us be united. If we were so we could sweep over this rebellion and over- 
whelm it at once. I shall conclude with the words of Andrew Jackson 
and Daniel Webster : " The Union, it must and shall be preserved !" 
" Liberty and Union, now and forever one and inseparable." [Applause.] 

The President next introduced Gen. Crawford, one of the garrison 
of Fort Sumter under Major Anderson. The General bowed to the 
crowd, but declined to make a speech. 



138 



SPEECH OF THEODORE TILTON. 



The Chairman announced that the closing speech of the day wonld be 
made by Tiii:odore Tiltox, of Brooklyn, who rose to speak as the even- 
ing was coming on. 

My Cot'xtkyjiex : It is a beautiful prophecy of the Word of God, " At 
the evening time there shall be light." I see the shadows of the evening 
falling on your faces, yet I see the light of hope shining in your eyes. So, 
amid the shadows of war that now rest on the ladd, a holy fire in men's 
breasts keeps bright the prospect of Victory and Freedom. 

Two years ago, when I spoke at the first great meeting of the people as- 
sembled in this Square — it was at this same hour of the day : the sun was 
setting behind yonder roofs. I recalled then — and I recall now — that 
strain of Milton's : 

" So sinks the day-star in his ocean bed, 
And jet anon repairs his drooping head, 
And tricks his beams, and wiih new-spangled ore 
Flames in tlie forehead of the morning sky." 

It is my firm faith, that the glory of this nation — which seemed, like the 
sun in the heavens, about to go down at noon — is to rise to a more illus- 
trious splendor. .The flag tliat went down shall rise again ; the hour 
that went down with it shall rise again. Nothing shall be lost — except, 
indeed, the precious loss of the brave dead, who have gained honorable 
graves. 

Is it the fight at Sumter that we celebrate to-day? "It is more. Sum- 
er is more than a battle-name. It means a new idea — a new principle — 
a new doctrine of government — a new assurance of the rights of the peo- 
ple — a' new support to republican institutions. It is not simply that over 
that fortress, two years ago to-morrow, at daybreak, hovered the first 
cloud of smoke of the greatest war of modern limes. It is more. "What 
wai^the meaning of that outbreak ? At first, the meaning was hidden in 
the smoke. 'J'hen, when the people saw it, the government failed to see 
it. lint at last the eyes of the President were opened, and on the first of 
January he interpreted the meaning by public proclamation to all the 
world. That fort of Charleston harbor was built upon a foundation of 
New l^npland granite : that state of South Carolina is to be rebuilt upon 
a foundation of New England ideas ! That is the meaning of Sumter. 

To-day's anniversary is a stand-point for looking backward and look- 
ing forward. To-day wc end the second year of the war. Washington, 
at the end of the .second year of tiie Kevolution, wrote these word.s : 

"That sj)irit of freedom, which at the commencement of this contest 
would have gladly sacrificed everything to the attainment of its object, 
has long since subsided, and every .'^elfish passion has taken its place. It 
is not the public, Itut private interest, which influences the generality of 
mankind, nor can tlu^ Americans any longer Itoa.'^t an exception." 

This was Wa.^hington's testimony. What is ours? Compare tiie spirit 
of both wars at the end of two years! Are wc better than our ralher.s, 
that our reeord ><hould l»e better than theirs? We have had what they 
had — a two years' lii>^torv of good and evil — of patriotism and greed — of 
loyalty nml treaciiery — of holy zeal and ignoble pa.«sion. Contractors 



139 

have fattened, while soldiers have gone unpaid. Opportunities for victory 
have been thrown away by generals, by reason of not being on friendly 
terms with brother officers in the same service. Party spirit has kept offi- 
cers in command who have been fit only to serve the enemy. Other offi- 
cers, whose names alone are a terror to the rebellion, are still knocking at 
the doors of the government, vainly asking appointment to the field. Pub- 
lic money has been squandered. Popular patience has been exhausted. 
Official beguilers in high places have whispered the counsels of the Devil 
into the President's ears. Honest men have hung their heads for shame, 
blushing for the government of their country, while they t]-embled for her 
fate. Many a Christian heart has lifted up its prayer to God, saying in 
bitterness, "In whom can we put our trust but in Thee?" This is the 
picture of the two years' war against the rebellion. Why do I depict it? 
Is it to make a ground against hope ? No. It is to make a ground in fa- 
vor of hope. It is because what is true of ourselves to-day was exactly 
true of our fathers in Washington's day. It is because, after such a two 
years' history, our fathers still had spirit and courage to fight five years 
more, and in the end to win their immortal victory. So if, after our two 
years' history, we are called to pass through five years more of war, I 
doubt not we shall be equal to the work, till our victory too shall be im- 
mortal ! 

Whence came the war % It is said that many years of peace had cor- 
rupted the public virtue. No. Peace is no corrupter of the public virtue. 
Peace is its foster-nurse. Peace is the mother of the arts. Peace touches 
the soil, and it blossoms into flowers. Peace is the fore-token of the final 
glory of the earth. . Peace is God's benediction upon the land. No ; it 
was not peace that gave us war. It was because we had Avar while we 
thought we had peace. It was because, for seventy years, we were given 
over to " strong delusion, to believe a lie." First pure, then peaceable — 
that is the order of God's law. But this nation — impure — guilty of a 
gi-eat sin — the sin of sins — how could it have peace? It had no peace. 
It has had none from the beginning. Our fathers died, leaving war in the 
land ; and we, when we were born, received as our birthright inheritance 
to day's legacy of civil war. What, therefore, is the lesson of these many 
yeai'S — of this long experience — of this seeming peace culminating in open 
war ? There is this lesson for to-day — that there will be no end of the 
war between the North and tlie South until freedom shall reign, and there- 
foi'e peace. Justice is the only calmer of revolutionary storms. Anything 
but emancipation will be war — war now, war evermore — until God's day 
of settlement with the nation. i 

And as this is a meeting of the Loyal League, it is easy to answer the 
question, Who is loyal ? It is he who is loyal to liberty — no one else. 
It is he who has faith in justice — no one else. It is he who upholds the 
rights of men — no one else. This is the only loyalty that can save this 
nation. There is but one salvation. Save the nation from her sins, and 
you save her from her perils. Wise men will heed the many signs of the 
times — the many tokens of God's interfering providence, saying now, as 
of old, " I will maintain the right of the poor." It is to rebuke fools for 
their folly that the people gather here to-day. The first uprising of two 
years ago, was in testimony against the disloyal South ; to-day's uprising 
is in testimony against the disloyal North. Let the many treasonable corn- 
plotters who walk these streets— breathing out threatenings against liberty 



140 

— tate heed of this day's purpose, and beware of that gathering indigna- 
tion of the people — thiit coming wrath of the patriotic mas-ses in the 
loyal states — wliich means to sweep before it the combined enemies of the 
republic, alike in the South and in the North! 

This nation is not to be lost : it is to be saved. It shall come out of 
these trials — tested. It shall pass through these flames — purified. I think 
no evil of tliese times. They are brave days. They carry sorrow in them, 
but they carry mercy. Out of the wrath of man rises praise to God. 
There are sublime compensations for war. Otherwise it would be unen- 
durable. But, with these, and for the sake of these, it becomes heroic. 
Ai'e the times troublous? They are for putting an end to troubles! Are 
they full of unusual burdens 1 They are for making the yokes easy and 
the burdens light. My countiymen, we have been living low-minded lives! 
These great events arc for lifting us to liigher thoughts. They are for in- 
spiring us with more Christian ainLS. They are for sowing the land with 
more generous iileas. Our children will be richer in soul for the struggle of 
flesh and blood through which we ai'e now pa.ssing. They will be wiser 
for the lessons we now are learning. These dcAvs of the night, now fall- 
ing, are to enrich the fields for future harvests. So the dew of blood which 
a righteous war is now leaving upon many battle-fields is to spring up into 
the growth of a. nobler manhood of the American people. 

Meanwhile, my countrymen — as the night comes on — as the darkness 
thickens — my thought wandei'S away from the multitude of your faces, 
which the.se shadows are making di(n, to that greater multitude whose 
faces are more dusky than this darkness — the four millions of humble 
men and women, the poor and lowly, the oppre-sed and de-pised — who all 
their lives long have sat in the darkness of the shadow of death. In the 
silence of the night, their voices arise into the ear of Him who heareth in 
the heavens ! 

" Hoarse, horrible, and strong 

Goes up the agoniziiiii cry — 

Fining the hollow arches of the sky — 

How long, God, how long ! " 

But it is vn'itten in His divine word — " Shall not God avenge Ilis own 
elect, which cry day and night unto Iliin, though He bear long with them? 
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily." 

Is this promise to be fulfilled ? Hark ! Put your hands to your ear I 
The noise of many battles comes up from the South ! What means the 
sound? It is the voice of God the Avenger, "bringing forth judgment 
unto victory. 

The meeting adjourned with prolonged and vehement cheers for the 
Union. 



RECEPTION OF THE DELEG.VTION FROM THE LOY.YL LEAGUE 
OF PHILADEbPin.V. 

The Delegation from the Ix)yal League of I'hiladelphia, to attend the 
Great Mass Me(!tiiig of April 11, arrived at the foot of G.)rtlandt street 
about noon, where ihoy were met by a Conunittee of the Loyal L<>ague8 
of this city, with carriages. Tho distinguished guoats wore taken to 



141 

Delmonico's and welcomed by R. B. Minturn, and the Eev. Dr. Bellows. 
Morton McMichael, Esq., Chairman of the Philadelphia Delegation, 
responded in a very happy and patriotic speech, after which all partook of 
a lunch provided for their entertainment. From Delmonico's the guests 
were escorted to the headquarters of the Union League Club, and invited 
to participate in the proceedings of raising and dedicating a flag. They 
were then escorted to seats at the various stands. At 7 o'clock the Dele- 
gates of the New York Union Leagues dined by invitation with the 
Philadelphia Delegates at the Astor House. Covers were laid for 150 
pei'sons. 

When the cloth was removed, speeches were made by B. H. Brewster, 
Esq., Charles Gibbons, Esq., Henry C. Carey, Esq., and others of Phila- 
delphia, Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, Charles King, Esq., of this 
city, and others. Morton McMichael, Esq., presided. There were about 
one hundred Philadelphians present, among whom were George H. Boker, 
Esq., Judge Kelley, John B. Kenney, and Ex-Mayor Charles Gilpin. 
The affair passed off pleasantly. The Philadelphia Guests, during their 
stay, were waited upon by many of our most prominent citizens, and ex- 
pressed themselves highly delighted with their reception and entertain- 
ment. They returned home, bearing with them the best wishes of their 
loyal friends in this city, whose hearts beat in unison with theirs, and 
whose hands are ever ready to join with theirs in upholding the Union 
and crushing out this wicked and causeless Eebellion. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Call of the Meeting ^ 3 

Notices of the Press 4 

Stand No. 1 ; 9 

Introductory Remarks by Mayor Opdyke 12 

Address, prepared by Dr. Francis Lieber 13 

Resolutions 21 

Speech of Hon. Montgomery Blair 23 

Speech of Hon. William D. Kelley, of Pennsylvania 29 

Speech of Benjamin H. Brewster, Esq., of Pennsylvania 31 

Speech of Colonel Stewart L. Woodford 33 

Speech of Horatio N. Wild 35 

Stand No. 2.. 37 

Speech of Governor 0. P. Morton, of Indiana 40 

Speech of General A. J. Hamilton, of Texas 50 

Speech of Hon. James M. Scovel, of New Jersey 57 

Speech of Rev. J. T. Duryea , 61 

Stand No. 3 63 

Speech of Benson J. Lossing, Esq 66 

Speech of Major-General Sigel 68 

Speech of Dr. Rudolph Dulon 69 

Speech of Hon. Schu3der Colfax, of Indiana 72 

Speech of Governor Pierpont, of Virginia 75 

Resolutions on the late James Louis Petigru, of South Carolina. . . 78 

Speech of Hon. Montgomery Blair 79 

Speech of Weil Von Gernsbach 80 

Speech of Dr. Forsch 82 

Stand No. 4 83 

Speech of General John C. Fremont 86 

Speech of Hon. Roscoe Conkling 88 

Speech of Hon. George W. Julian, of Indiana 98 

Speech of W. J. A. Fuller, Esq 102 

Remarks of Peter Cooper 107 



144 

Pagb. 

Stand No. 5 109 

Speech of Hon. Daniel S. Dickinson 112 

Speech of Hon. Henry Wilson, of Massachusetts 117 

Speech of James W. Nye 120 

Speech of Prof John A. Porter, of Connecticut 122 

Speech of John C. Montgomery ^ 123 

Speech of G. W. Elliott 123 

Speech of Colonel Nugent 124 

Stand No. 6. . 126 

Speech of David Dudley Field, Esq . . 128 

Speech of George William Curtis 129 

Speech of S. B. Chittenden, Esq 133 

Speech of Hon. James A. Briggs 135 

Speech of Mr. Parsons, of Missouri 137 

Speech of Theodore Tilton 138 

Reception of the Delegation from the Loyal League of Philadelphia. . . . 140 



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